138 

ORNITHOL 
GIS 
[Vol. 11-No. 9 

are nests built during the intermin of our visit the 
previous spring and the present, and often when 
pursuing Bob-white with gun and setter in 
autumn I observed so many nests of the Red- 
shouldered Hawk’s erection, in very familiar 
woods, which had been well searched in the 
spring, that it was extremely provoking to think 
how they had escaped me, for I had diligently 
sought the second sets about the middle of May, 
but save for a single instance, I was unrequited 
for my labor. 
My apprisal of the true condition of affairs re- 
garding their late or second laying came upon me 
unexpectedly and solved the hitherto unsatisfac- 
tory problem. While hunting for nests of the 
Scarlet Tanager about the middle of June in ’78, 
the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk caused my 
mind to revert to the vexed question, and I began 
a careful search for the nest, which was found 
after several ascents to deserted and empty domi- 
ciles. This nest, differing in no way from those 
found in early spring, contained three eggs, the 
contents of which the blow-pipe proved to be 
nearly fresh. Thinking that perhaps this instance 
was typical of their second laying, I looked for 
their nests on the following day, and was success- 
ful to a moderate degree, finding three nests of 
the Red-shouldered Hawk, each containing three 
fresh eggs, and one of the Red-tailed Hawk with 
young just hatched. Since this, my first experi- 
ence in their late breeding, I have annually taken 
an occasional hawking trip the second week in 
June with good success. 
One interesting feature, is the length of time 
which intervenes between the dates of the two 
periods of incubation, for having taken a set from 
a pair of B. lineatus as early as April 15, I am 
obliged to wait until June 8th ere I could take the 
completed second set. LB. borealis breeding earlier in 
April is correspondingly earlier with second sets, 
having them ready by May 13th, although I have 
found fresh sets as late as May 26. It seems as 
though the Luteos learn a lesson from the predat- 
ory excursions of odlogists in early spring, and 
they wait until the foliage of the forest has devel- 
oped sufficiently to screen the nests from view, 
and their patient waiting is in many cases re- 
warded, for I doubt if one-third of the nests can 
be found when hidden in the leafy woods of 
June; and the number of hawks observed show 
that they still hold their own against the com- 
bined warfare of odlogists, farmers and legislative 
enactment. 
Wawking in June differs somewhat from the 
same pastime in April. To ascend the forty-foot 
smooth trunk of a chestnut tree on a summer 

midday will remind one forcibly of a modern 
sweat bath—with the bath left out—while mos- 
quitoes, evidently aware that both hands are fully 
occupied in grasping the tree, will present their 
bills with audacity beyond description, and as a 
culminating crisisin many cases the nest will be 
found empty or squirrel-occupied, while the nest, 
to which the pair of hawks screaming overhead 
belong, can be seen in an equally difficult tree < 
few rods distant, but which, owing to the density 
of the foliage, could not be seen from the ground ; 
yet, nevertheless, as a change from the usual col- 
lecting of the month, and as much is still to be 
learned about their second breeding, it would be 
well for odlogists to go “ Hawking in June.” 
A Two Days’ Collecting Trip on the 
Jersey Coast. 
BY HARRY G. PARKER, CHESTER, PENN. 


On the lower coast of New Jersey, four miles 
from the main land, is an island which is so rich 
in wooded hills, plains, swamp and marshy 
meadow, that hundreds of birds pause in their 
migrations, and tempted by the suitable sites for 
housekeeping, linger and take up their residence 
there. This island is some two leagues in length, 
about one mile in width at its upper end and tapers 
until at the southern end it is but three hundred 
yards across. Looking from the ocean side we 
see the wonderful sandhills, which have been 
centuries in forming, and which tower to the 
majestic height of a hundred feet in many places. 
These hills are clothed with a stunted growth of 
pine, and when seen from a distance present all 
the variety shown by a European ruin, which 
they much resemble. Just behind the bluffs is a 
swamp, extending for about two miles, in which 
grow the largest of pine trees; and in its midst is 
an island, solid and firm, but it is only reached by 
wading through foul and stagnant water 
deep. Once landed here we see how prodigal 
Nature has been in bestowing upon this limited 
tract all the wealth of verdure of a semi-tropical 
wilderness. Immense wild grape vines cast out 
their arms from tree to tree, the beautiful wsnea 
and other mosses cover the trees and vines, and 
looking at this place from the top of the adjacent 
sandhill, the western afternoon sun shining 
through the treetops, and giving life and beauty 
to everything within, we see such a sight as once 
witnessed is not soon to be forgotten. After 
leaving this island swamp behind, and going 
further west there is a stretch of salt marshy 
meadow, extending for over a mile toward the 
Sound. These meadows are soft and treacherous, 
yaist 
