HAWKS AND EAGLES. 377 



with which the belly, etc., is tinged and finely barred. 

 Under tail-coverts, white; tail, the same, with bands 

 of pearly gray. Immature birds have the white above and 

 black impure, the rufous wanting or restricted. Beneath, 

 white, streaked (and spotted) with dark brown. " Tail be- 

 neath, silvery white." Under wing-coverts, usually more or 

 less fulvous, as in the adult. 



b. The " Hen Hawks " generally build a fresh nest every 

 year, though they may occasionally occupy the same nest " for 

 several seasons," as Mr. Samuels states. Should their home 

 be destroyed during the season of incubation, they usually 

 repair an old nest for a second brood, as they sometimes do 

 for their first. Their nest, when finished, is a large structure 

 of sticks (from eighteen to thirty inches in diameter), and is 

 commonly lined with small branches of hemlock, or with tree 

 moss. It may be found in rather secluded or unfrequented 

 woods and pine groves, particularly those which contain 

 swamps, brooks, or ponds. It is placed next to the trunk of 

 a pine, or sometimes an oak, from fifteen to seventy-five feet 

 above the ground. It is seldom built in a young tree, or in 

 one at all isolated, and is rarely concealed by surrounding 

 foliage. Near Boston it is finished between the first week and 

 the last day of April, and two, three, or four eggs are then 

 laid. These often exhibit great variation, even when taken 

 from the same nest. Though varying in size and shape, some 

 being elongated, or somewhat pointed at the smaller end, 

 they average about 2.20 X 1.70 of an inch. From a series 

 in my cabinet, recently collected near Boston, the following 

 descriptions are taken. (1) White, evenly blotched and spot- 

 ted with lilac. (2) White, evenly but coarsely marked with 

 a pretty reddish brown. (3) White, with a few thin and 

 vague markings of chocolate. (4) Dirty white, not appre- 

 ciably marked. (5) Dirty white, with a very few fine scrawls 

 at the smaller end. (6) Dirty white, blotched at the smaller 

 end with umber. (7) Dirty white, clouded at the smaller end 

 with several shades of brown. (8) Dirty white, fadedly 

 blotched, chiefly at the smaller end. (9) Impure white, 

 blotched with faint reddish brown chiefly at the smaller end, 



