190 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



the nests being placed against the trunks of spruce and fir trees, at a height 

 of about 30 feet. He found two fresh eggs on one occasion, May 5, 1880; and 

 on May 8 the nest contained four eggs, but this is unusually early for this 

 locality. Their call note is a clear "chee-up, chee-up." 



In the West, in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, these birds are not very 

 common, and I found only two nests. One on Craig's Mountain, near Fort 

 Lapwai, Idaho, May 24, 1870, was in a spruce grove, in a tree of this species, 

 close to the main stem, and about 20 feet from the ground ; it contained 

 four nearly fresh eggs. The nest was composed of small twigs of the service- 

 berry bush, rather shallow, and contained no lining of any kind. 



Another nest of this species was taken by me near Fort Klamath, Oregon, 

 May 18, 1883, containing five handsome fresh eggs. This was composed 

 entirely of fine willow and sage bush twigs, none thicker than a lead pencil, 

 and evidently selected with care as to size. The nest was about 20 inches in 

 diameter outside by 7 inches deep, and placed in the top of a small bushy 

 black pine, close to the main trunk about 25 feet from the ground. In both 

 instances the birds themselves betrayed the location of the nests by their 

 solicitous actions. The females were in each case noisy and demonstrative, 

 and the owner of the last nest swooped twice pretty close to me, scream- 

 ing fiercely at the same time. This nest was shallow and contained no lining,. 

 but was very compactly and strongly built, and well hidden by the lower 

 branches. 



According to Mr. C. F. Morrison this species breeds in abandoned 

 Magpies' nests along the La Plata River in Colorado; and three eggs taken 

 by him near Fort Lewis, Colorado, on June 22, 1886, now in the U. S. 

 National Museum collection, were said to have been deposited in a dilapi- 

 dated nest of a Magpie, the arched roof of which had fallen upon the main 

 nest, forming a hollow, which was lined with a few feathers upon some dead 

 leaves which had partially filled it the fall before. 1 



Occasionally the Sharp- shinned Hawk is said to nest in cliffs, and while 

 this may possibly be of more frequent occurrence in the Arctic regions, where 

 the habits of our birds are not as well known as one could wish, such nesting 

 sites, as well as those in hollow trees, must, in the United States at least, be 

 considered as decidedly rare and exceptional. The Sharp-shinned Hawk nests 

 in evergreens from choice, and if these be absent, it may resort to a birch, an 

 oak, a maple, chestnut, or hickory tree; if any conifers are found in the vicin- 

 ity of their breeding grounds it invariably nests in these. It is a late breeder, 

 in fact one of the tardiest of our Raptores. As a rule the eggs are seldom laid 

 earlier than the first week in May, usually in the last half of this month, and 

 not infrequently in June. A set of four was taken as late as May 20, near 

 Washington, D. C. 



The nests of this species are usually fairly well constructed, better than 

 those of the majority of our Raptores, and it generally builds its own nest, 

 seldom using those which have been abandoned by other species. 



'Ornithologist and Oologist, ol. xii, 1887, No. 2, p. 27. 



