288 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



new to his list, the Black Vulture and Purple Gallinule, 

 " both in very fine plumage and both taken while Prof. 

 Baird was with me. They were a long ways north for 

 such southern birds." Under date of November 12, 

 1864, Mr. Boardman writes Mr. Allen : 



In answer to your question of how the White-headed Eagle 

 breeds, I would say I have known but one instance of its breed- 

 ing upon cliffs, that was at the Wolves Island. 1 was told by the 

 fishermen of an eagle breeding upon the cliffs and supposed it 

 was the Golden, so I sent a crew to get the eggs but they finding 

 it the White-head did not go over the cliff's, but amused themselves 

 by rolling rocks down over the nest but did not drive the birds 

 away. I do not, however, know whether they returned next 

 year or not. I got a nest of raven's eggs, seven in number, on a 

 cliff near the same place last spring on April 11, the snow then 

 being nearly a foot deep. The Duck Hawks breed very early — 

 they are flying about in June. I got one which I mounted but 

 could see no pin feathers. It was shot this year in July, a this sea- 

 son's bird. They are very quiet about breeding time and are sel- 

 dom seen. I know of one place where they had been breeding for 

 years and the fishermen living within half a mile never saw or 

 heard of the bird. I have many times wondered how they could 

 feed themselves and their young and never be seen, but when the 

 young are half fledged they are at times very noisy, and when 

 they first begin to fly more so than most hawks, but they leave 

 the breeding places as soon as they can fly. I never knew them 

 to breed upon trees. 1 once knew of a Raven's nest within a hun- 

 dred yards of the hawk, and do not think they troubled each 

 other. 1 also found, last year, a Sparrow Hawk and Yellow 

 Woodpecker breeding in the same tree, but they were not very 

 peaceable. The Hawk would dive after the Woodpecker when it 

 left its nest. Mr. Jaimson, a fine old man of Deer Island, told 

 me a story of seeing an eagle flying along the cliff and a Duck 

 Hawk flew at the eagle in a very spiteful way, probably to drive 

 it away from the nest, when the eagle caught the hawk, gave it a 

 squeeze, and it dropped perfectly dead. It was seen by the whole 

 boat's crew who were fishing. 



