^"'"l^Hi^"'] MousLEY, Birds of Hatley, Que. 67 



in " status quo " neither increasing nor decreasing. It is by no means 

 plentiful at any time but judging from the number of broods seen earlier 

 on, the present season, 1915, should prove to be above the average. Nests 

 usually contain from eight to ten eggs, only on one occasion have I found 

 as many as thirteen. In some cases it is not unusual for a few eggs in a set 

 to be spotted, but I have a unique one of ten in which every egg is well 

 spotted, not at the larger end as is usual but at the smaller, an uncommon 

 occurrence even in the case of a single egg of any bird. I have never had 

 the good fortune to catch a male in the act of drumming, although I have 

 knowai of several drummmg logs. 



23. Circus hudsonius (Linna;us) . Marsh Hawk. — Common summer 

 visitant; April 14 to Oct. 17. Average date of arrival (for four years) April 

 18; of departure (for four years) Sept. 22. Although a pair of these birds 

 have frequented some low lying overgrown marshy meadows for the past four 

 sinnmers, I have been unable so far to locate their nest, but have seen the 

 young later on in the season hawking over the locality in company with the 

 parent buxls. 



24. Accipiter velox (Wilson). Sharp-shinned Hawk. — Rare tran- 

 sient; May 3, Oct. 21. This httle hawk must be rare in the district for 

 the above dates of the present year (1915) are the only ones on which I 

 have seen examples, notwithstanding I have invariably rapped on every 

 evergreen tree containing a likely looking nest, in the hope of putting one 

 up during the breeding season. When seen the one in May was flying low 

 down and gave me a good view of its long square ended tail, the other in 

 October was that of a male shot in the morning and shown to me in the 

 flesh a few hours aftei"wards. 



25. Astur atricapillus atricapillus (Wilson). Goshawk.— Rare 

 transient; Oct. 21. The above date in 1914 is the only one on which I 

 have seen an example of this hawk. It was an adult biixl in fine plumage 

 and was shot near a sugar house in some woods early in the morning and 

 shown to me the same evening. 



26. Buteo borealis borealis (Gmelin). Red-tailed Hawk. — ^ Rare 

 transient; Oct. 29. The only example I have seen of this hawk was that 

 of a fine adult bird which (contrary to its general custom) had been robbing 

 a hen yard, and was eventually caught in a trap on the above date, and 

 shown to me alive the same day. 



27. Buteo lineatus lineatus (Gmelin). Red-shouldered Hawk.— 

 Common summer visitant; March 28 to Oct. 25. Average date of arrival 

 (for thi-ee years) March 29; of departure (for three years) Oct. 21. This is 

 undoubtedly the commonest of the large hawks in this district, and at least 

 four pairs nest in the surrounding woods, although not having given much 

 attention to them as yet, I can only record having actually found one in- 

 habited nest which contained young. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of 

 Kingbirds who had a nest in some drowned land on the outskirts of a large 

 wood so mob and terrify a young hawk of this species that it seemed to lose 

 the power of flight, and floundered about in the water until it became a most 



