220 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



hardly been a year in the past twelve that, with the help of one or two assist- 

 ants, I have not found from twenty to thirty of their nests while looking for 

 those of other birds. Although they occur sometimes during the winter months, 

 these birds are migratory, and usually arrive in this locality from the South 

 about the middle of March, occasionally a little earlier or later, being influenced 

 by the condition of the weather. Like the Red-tails, they commence working 

 on their nests almost immediately after their arrival, but do not begin laying 

 quite so early. The majority of their eggs are deposited here between the 

 20th of April and the 1st of May; I have found full sets, however, on the 10th 

 of the former month, and as late as the last day of the latter. Those laid after 

 May 12 were probably second layings. The sets here vary in the following 

 proportion: One-half of the nests contain three eggs, one-third four, and one- 

 sixth only two. The second and third layings never consist of more than three 

 eggs, and generally of but two. 



"The Red-shouldered Hawk raises but one brood in a season, but they 

 generally lay two or three sets of eggs should the first be destroyed. Botli 

 bii'ds assist in incubation and make a great fuss when their nests are disturbed, 

 and although they seldom approach very near to the persons examining them, 

 they keep up their loud calls as long as any one remains in the vicinity. Like 

 all birds they show more solicitude just before and just after their eggs arc 

 hatched, and no matter how wild and suspicious they may have been, or how 

 many times they may have been shot at, they usually appear to lose all sense 

 of danger at such times. 



"The young birds when just out of the shell look like balls of yellowish 

 down, and their eyes are as bright and clear as those of the adults. In a 

 remarkably short time they learn what food is for, and will fight among them- 

 selves for it, and peck at one another when they are but a few hours old. 



"The nest of the Red-shouldered Hawk is composed of sticks, lined 

 with birch bark, strips of the inner bark of various trees, and hemlock 

 twigs. Occasionally evergreen twigs, dry grass, or dead roots are added to 

 to, or substituted for, some of the materials of which the lining is composed; 

 also more and more of the feathers from the lower parts of the sitting birds 

 drop out and are added to the lining as the eggs advance in incubation. 

 There are no birds of prey that I am acquainted with, of whose eggs I cannot 

 tell almost the exact stage of incubation by the quantity of feathers in the 

 lining of its nests, they increase so regularly. 



"The nest is either located in a crotch of a tree or against the trunk 

 on limbs growing out from it, at an average height pf about 50 feet; 37 

 and 60 feet from the ground are the lowest and the highest locations of the 

 nests according to measurements made by me. The trees chosen by the 

 Red-shouldered Hawk to nest in are birch, ash, maple, and beech. If there 

 is any preference shown in their selection it is in favor of the birch and ash. 

 The places they like best to breed in are small woods, located in the neigh- 



