iS92.] Allex on the Breeding Habits, of the Fish Ha-.vk. "^ I Q 



and did not I'eturn till all was quiet, simply soaring high in the 

 air without uttering a sound ; in other cases the birds were noisy 

 and combative, constantly darting down at one's head, but they 

 would return to their eggs when I remained quiet, even if only 

 fifty feet away. 



The Fish Hawks were not lacking in neighbors willing to share 

 with them their domicile. A pair of Fish Hawks of my ac- 

 quaintance occupied a nest situated on the bank of a very slug- 

 gish stream at the edge of the piece of wood already described, 

 and adjoining a denser thicket to the westward. The nest was 

 old and large, and was probably an inheritance from former gen- 

 erations. It was thoroughly protected from below by the long 

 projecting sticks at the base and the imperviousness of the mass. 

 A pair of Herons, wiser than their kin, built their nest under 

 the Fish Haw^k's nest, only some fifteen inches below it, and in a 

 place the Fish Hawks could not possibly reach without tearing 

 away a portion of their own nest. The Heron's nest was thus 

 thoroughly protected from storms and from hostile attack from 

 above. The Fish Hawk's nest contained three eggs, the Heron's 

 four eggs. In the crevices of this same Fish Hawk's nest were 

 five nests of the Purple Grackle, one Wren's nest, and an Eng- 

 lish Sparrow's nest. Herons are often killed by Fish Hawks, but 

 they could not get at these, and when I robbed the whole series 

 of nests, they all laid again in the same nests and were allowed 

 to raise their young. In fact, the Fish Hawks do not seem to 

 mind being robbed, as they will not desert their nests if allowed 

 to raise their brood during the season. They seemed much 

 bolder in open places and along the rocky shore than in the 

 woods, as in exposed situations they could better see the char- 

 acter of their enemy. 



In every Fish Hawk's nest, except those on the ground, I al- 

 ways found from two to eight or ten nests of the Purple Grackle. 

 They were situated in crevices among the sticks under the edges 

 of the nest, or even beneath the nest itself, so as to secure protec- 

 tion from rain and bad weather. They were very bold in collect- 

 ing fragments from the table of their powerful neighbors. English 

 Sparrows also often bred there, and I have more than once found 

 nests of the House Wren in the deeper interstices. 



The two plates accompanying the present article are from 

 photographs selected from a considerable series, taken on the 



