320 Allen oh the Breeding Habits of the Fish Hawk. [October 



island, of Fish Hawks' nest and their surroundings. Plate IV 

 represents a nest situated in an old and partly dead oak at the edge 

 of the woods and overhanging a fresh water pond. In taking 

 the picture the camera was hidden near the tree and a long line 

 attached, the exposure being made just as the Hawk had settled 

 upon the dead top of the tree a little above the nest. The birds 

 were com^Daratively tame, and a number of fairly good photo- 

 graphs were obtained of both nests and birds. 



Plate V represents one of the two 'mushroom' nests already 

 described, taken after the great weight of the nest had overturned 

 the tree. The tree fell in October, 1SS3. The birds rebuilt 

 upon the fallen nest in 1SS4, and had added to it new materials 

 when again examined in 18S5. 



As already said, the Fish Hawks were thoroughly at home on 

 the island for a long period prior to the time when the island was 

 sold by Mr. Jerome to the syndicate, and had become very un- 

 suspicious. I have seen them alight on the flagpole and on the 

 fence posts within easy gunshot of the lighthouse ; and on two 

 occasions visitors to the lighthouse are said to have killed one of 

 the birds with a stone. As stated above, the nests were placed 

 almost anywhere — on the tops of the highest trees, or on their low- 

 est branches, only five or six feet from the ground ; on stunted trees 

 only a few feet in height, on isolated trees far out in the open 

 land, as well as in the woods ; on the sheep barn, and on an old 

 pile of rails by the gate of the farm house ; while thirty to forty 

 per cent were actually on the ground. These latter varied from a 

 slight depression in the ground, as in the case of newly formed 

 nests, to conical mounds, four or five feet high, formed by ma- 

 terials added year after year by the birds, filled in with sand 

 blown by the winds. High rocks on the shore, and low rocks 

 far out in the water, scarcely above high tide and swept by the 

 autumn storms, were also chosen as situations for nests. A large 

 buoy, with a lattice-work top, near the west end of Fisher's Is- 

 land, was also occupied for many years by a nest of these birds, 

 greatly to the advantage of sailors and fishermen, who were 

 warned in thick weather of the position of the buoy by the scream- 

 ing of the Fish Hawks. 



The Jeromes, father and sons, rigidly protected the Fish 

 Hawks as long as the island remained in their possession, it 

 being generally understood -that any one attempting to rob their 



