24 £be Warbler 



the trees had been almost entirely stripped of their leaves by them. In some 

 places their excrement covered the ground for the depth of an inch, and the 

 stench from this was so great as to be almost unbearable. As I have remark- 

 ed above, we may see just such sights as this in a quarter of a century from 

 now, in the forests of Eastern New York, and as these birds are not migra- 

 tory in habit such things are surely coming to pass. Well, the guardians of 

 American agriculture in the years to come, will have the problem to cry 

 over, and the wiseacres among the ornithologists of the government have 

 sufncent cause to pull the pelvic extremity of the public exchequer in order 

 to obtain the means to abate the danger. The prophecy is made here that 

 they will succeed no better than the modern meddlers with nature have in 

 the cases of the European Sparrow and the mosquito. 



A Mammoth Hawk's Nest 



THE splendid nest of Red-tailed Hawk {Buteo borcalis) shown in the ac- 

 companying photograph (page 25) was taken April 22nd, 1904, in 

 Clover Swamp, four miles west of Lapeer, Michigan, and contained three 

 eggs. The nest was located in an ash tree eight}- feet from the ground. To 

 secure it in situ our climber sat in the nest and sawed off the limbs above. 

 It was then secured on every side with quarter-inch rope, of which we used 

 150 feet, and so adjusted that the nest could not fall. When the large limb 

 below the nest, and which supported it, was sawed off it doubled down by 

 the main trunk and came within an ace of knocking the man out of the tree- 

 The nest with branches, as photographed, weighed 125 pounds. It was 

 taken to my office, securely packed and shipped to Mr. John Lewis Childs 

 and is now in his collection, together with the three beautiful eggs which it 

 contained. I have examined hundreds of Hawks' nests, but in size and 



beauty this is the finest one I ever saw. 



W. A. Hart. 



