THE DUCK HAWK 295 



A nest taken by me on April 24, 1877, from a small cavity in a basaltic 

 cliff, 30 miles south of Camp Harney, Oregon, and about 3 miles from the 

 eastern end of Mallieur Lake, contained three slightly incubated eggs. They 

 were lying on the bare rock, with a little rubbish and a few small bones placed 

 around them to keep them from rolling out. The site was about 25 feet from 

 the ground and about 10 feet from the top of the cliff. The female was very 

 bold and was easily shot. Another set collected for me a few miles south of 

 San Diego, California, on March 29, 1873, was placed in a similar situation, a 

 basaltic cliff on the seashore. It contained three fresh eggs. 



Occasionally the Duck Hawk will use the nest of another species to lay 

 in, but such instances seem rare. Mr. Denis Gale took a very handsome set of 

 eggs from an old Eagle's nest on April 30, 1889, which he generously donated 

 to the U. S. National Museum collection. He writes me: "I discovered this 

 nesting site first on April 4, 1889, in a ledge of rocks on the Cache la Poudre 

 Creek. Some difficulty was experienced in getting to the nest, and no eggs 

 were found on that occasion, it being too early. Nevertheless the birds were 

 a good deal excited and flew around overhead, yet it might only have been 

 caused by seeing their favorite hunting ground invaded. I think if they had 

 eggs to guard at that time, the watching I bestowed upon them with my 

 glass would have located the site exactly, but it did not. Probably it was 

 when nearest to their nesting site, that the female new overhead and cackled 

 like a two-thirds grown duckling. This was unmistakable, and a peculiarity I 

 never before met with. 



"On the 24th the nest contained two eggs, which were left till the 30th. 

 The site was in a rocky ledge about 80 feet high and about 50 feet from 

 the foot of the cliff. The nest was reached by climbing down a rope from 

 above. On April 30, six days later, four eggs were found in the nest and 

 taken. They were all perfectly fresh. I do not think that the set was com- 

 plete, and believe that another would have been added a day or two later." 



The Duck Hawk must be fairly common in the Arctic regions and the 

 interior of Alaska, as attested by a number of sets of eggs, now in the U. S. 

 National Museum collection, taken by Mr. R. MacFarlane, on the Lockhart 

 and Anderson Rivers; by Mr. S. Jones, at Fort Rae, Great Slave Lake, and 

 Fort Yukon, Alaska; and by Mr. James Lockhart, at Fort Resolution and 

 other localities. They usually nested on sandstone and clay banks along 

 the rivers and numerous lakes of that region. 



Mr. L. M. Turner found the Duck Hawk quite common near Fort Chimo, 

 Labrador, in 1883 and 1884, and he took several sets of their eggs. He 

 states: "Scarcely an island of large size but what has one or more pairs of 

 these Hawks breeding on them. Those islands which are in the vicinity 

 of the localities selected by Eider Ducks, Gulls, and other water birds, are 

 the ones also chosen by these Hawks for breeding purposes, if a suitable 

 ledge on a cliff can be found. * * * 



"At the southern end of a cliff on Hunting Bay a pair of this species 



