1S92.] Allen on the Breeding Habits of the Fish Ha-vk. 321 



nests did so at the peril of his life. They even destroyed the 

 rookery of Night Herons, bec;iuse it attracted gunners to the 

 island, to whom a Fish Hawk sailing over often presented a shot 

 too tempting for them to resist. Since the sale of the island, and 

 the removal of protection, the Fish Hawks have for the most 

 p:irt gone elsewhere, few now breeding there. Gardiner's 

 Island, still thoroughly protected, is now their favorite breeding 

 place. 



The varied character of the materials used in nest-building has 

 already been mentioned at some length, but I append the follow- 

 ing more detailed list, made up from notes taken during my three 

 visits to the island, the objects mentioned having all been per- 

 sonally observed and noted: sticks, branches of trees, from three 

 to five feet long, a few ten to twelve feet long, for protecting 

 the base of the nest ; brushwood, barrel staves, barrel heads, and 

 hoops ; bunches of seaweed, long masses of kelp, mullein stalks 

 and cornstalks; laths, shingles, small pieces of boards from 

 boxes; parts of oars, a broken boat-hook, tiller of a boat, a small 

 rudder, and parts of life preservers; large pieces offish nets, cork, 

 and cedar net floats, and pieces of rope, some of them twenty feet 

 in length ; charred wood, sticks from hay bales, and short, thick 

 logs of wood; a toy boat, with one sail still attached ; sponges, 

 long strings of conch eggs, and eggs of sharks and dogfish ; a 

 small axe with broken handle, part of a hay rake, old brooms, an 

 old plane, a feather-duster, a deck swab, a blacking-brush, and a 

 bootjack ; a rubber boot, several old shoes, an old pair of trou- 

 sers, a straw hat, and part of an oil skin 'sou'wester' ; a long 

 fish line, with sinkers and hooks attached, wound on a board ; old 

 bottles, tin cans, oyster shells, and large periwinkle shells, one 

 rag doll, shells and bright colored stones, a small fruit basket, 

 part of an eel pot, a small worn out door mat; wings of ducks 

 and gulls, sometimes with parts of the skeleton attached, and one 

 fresh crow's wing, as already related. A strange feature was the 

 frequent presence of bleached bones froin tlie pasture, as the ribs 

 and long bones of sheep and cattle, and especially sheep skulls. 

 Nearly all the old nests had masses of dried cow dung, and large 

 pieces of sod, with the grass still growing. 



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