LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



nest at least six or eight years, as ten or twelve adults and young were shot in 

 the near vicinity; but so shy were they that no one ever suspected their nesting 

 until the nest was accidentally found. A female was shot from it in 1877, and 

 another in 1878. They then deserted the locality, and I have recently 

 found where they rebiiilt. The nesting sites were in both instances in white 

 birches, about 20 feet from the ground. A very small young one was taken 

 from the last nest June 5, 1887. They probably commence laying here about 

 May 1." 



Mr. J. W. Banks, of St. Johns, New Brunswick, writes me: "I know of t\\ o 

 nests of the Goshawk taken in this vicinity. One nest about 10 miles away, 

 and from which one of the parents was shot, was built in the forks of a large 

 birch tree. It contained two fresh eggs, and was taken about the last of 

 April. Another nest was found about 25 miles from this city; both parents 

 were shot, and' the two young birds it contained were brought here to be 

 stuffed. The male only was in the mature plumage. The young were about 

 as large as Brahma chicks six weeks old, and covered with a thick coat of pure 

 white down without a sign of pin feathers. This nest was also placed in the 

 forks of a birch tree. It was found May 5." 



According to Mr. W. L. Bishop's observations in Nova Scotia, this Hawk 

 breeds on high ground, mostly in hard wood timber, and nearly all the 

 nests found by him were placed in tall slim beech or birch trees, about 40 

 feet from the ground, built of sticks, and lined with a few green hemlock 

 twigs, yellow birch bark, and a few feathers. 



Mr. L. M. Turner says that this Hawk is rather rare in Labrador, but as he 

 observed it near Foil Chimo in May, it certainly breeds there. On May 1, 

 187G, he took a handsome set of five eggs in the Yukon River Delta, Alaska, 

 and another incomplete set of two eggs on the same date a year later. These 

 eggs were fresh when taken and are now in the U. S. National Museum col- 

 lection. The nests were placed in poplar trees. Another set of four was 

 taken by Capt. W. H. Dall, of the U. S. Coast Survey, on April 28, 1868, near 

 Nulato, Alaska. 



I cannot add any personal observations concerning the life history of 

 this species. It nests early, even in the northern regions; beginning to lay 

 about April 1, or even earlier, in the more southern portions of its range, 

 and in Alaska from about April 20 to May 10. Incubation, as with most of 

 the larger Raptores, lasts about four weeks. But a single brood is raised in 

 a season. 



The number of eggs laid by the Goshawk varies from two to five. In 

 the North, where an abundance of food can be readily procured for the 

 young, the larger sets of four or five eggs seem to predominate. They are 

 pale bluish white in color and unspotted. An occasional specimen shows 

 slight traces of brownish-buff markings, which are probably old blood stains. 

 The shells of these eggs are somewhat rough to the touch, deeply pitted, and 

 granulated. They vary in shape from ovate to elliptical ovate. The average 



