108 



OEOTTHOLOGIST 



[Yol. 12-No. 7 



they sliould not come up the Colorado river, 

 thence along any stream running in an easterly 

 direction, as the San Juan (pronounced San 

 Wan) ; perhaps turned in this direction by in- 

 dications of a cold wave, thence by the La 

 Plata river a distance of eighteen miles would 

 bring it under my observation and in the event 

 of a sudden cold wave this eighteen miles would 

 take them down to an altitude where snow 

 never lasts long and where the Grackles, Blue- 

 birds and many other species winter. 



The birds observed by me looked smaller 

 than the eastern Redwing, with the red patch 

 nearly blood-red, the white border showing all 

 the graduations between faint whitish to a pure 

 wiiite; some specimens showing no more white 

 than some I have taken near Worcester, New- 

 bnryport and other Massachusetts localities, 

 only in the latter cases the red was much light- 

 er, perhaps might be called scarlet. I had 

 noticed this fact in eastern specimens long 

 before the birds were split up into the present 

 thi-ee varieties (for 1 hold them to be varieties 

 of the same bird). 



I shall visit New Mexico and Arizona for A. 

 tricolor this year and I expect to find it. 



Nesting of the Broad-winged Hawk 

 in Chester Co., Penn. 



BY THOMAS II. JACKSON, WEST CHESTER, PENN. 



Though of general distribution in the Middle 

 States, the Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo pennsyl- 

 vanicus), seems to be nowhere abundant. In 

 this part of Pennsylvania I think it may be 

 considered a rare sunnner resident. For many 

 years the woods of this county have been thor- 

 oughly explored in the season when our Eap- 

 tores are usually found nesting, and although 

 the Hed-tail and Cooper's Hawks have always 

 been found bleeding more or less abundantly, 

 but two or three authentic sets of the Broad- 

 winged species have been taken. 



The first one to my knowledge was a nest 

 containing two eggs, taken by Mr. J. T. Price, 

 on May 24th, 1875, in a wood near the edge of 

 West Chester. These eggs were of the ordinary 

 type, and quite handsomely marked. 



Another nest of this species was found near 

 Malvern in this county, on May, 188G. It con- 

 tained a single egg, much incubated, and was 

 positively identified, both birds having been 

 shot at or near the nest. They had made theii- 

 home in this piece of woods near the village, 



a locality that did not afford the quiet and 

 seclusion usually preferred by these birds. 



On May 31st, 188G, it was my good fortune 

 to find my first and only nest of this species. 

 I was exploring a wild tract of woodland and 

 swamp, searching at the time for the nest of a 

 pair of Kentucky AVarblers (Oporornis formosa), 

 that seemed to be home in this particular local- 

 ity. The male warbler sat in an ash tree, sing- 

 ing for hours, quite tame and apparently having 

 a mate and nest in this vicinity. While exam- 

 ining every tuft of grass, bush or clump of 

 swamp cabbage in the neighboi-hood that might 

 conceal the nest I so much desired to find, and 

 moving in every widening circle around the 

 tree, where the male sang undisturbed, my at- 

 tention was quickly arrested by the shrill 

 scream of a hawk — a noise resembling the 

 grating of a large door upon its hinges. Look- 

 ing up I saw the bird leaving a small nest about 

 fifty yards away. It was about twenty feet 

 from the ground, in a small black walnut, and 

 so small and insignificant looking that had not 

 the birds been seen so suspiciously near it I 

 should not have troubled myself to climb to it. 

 However, an easj^ ascent, without irons, soon 

 revealed the precious contents — three exqui- 

 sitely marked eggs of the Broad-winged Hawk. 

 The nest was evidently an old one, probably 

 constructed by Crows the previous spring. It 

 sat deep in the hollow of a ci'otch formed by 

 three limbs. The lining was composed of a 

 scanty assortment of grasses, feathers and soft 

 strips of bark. The eggs were advanced in in- 

 cubation, the young having well developed 

 feathers. I should think the eggs had been 

 laid before Maj' loth. The parent birds were 

 not shy, but kept within sight most of the 

 time I was there, uttering at frequent intervals 

 their loud cries. They remained in the vicinity 

 for some time; late in June I heard them in 

 the san)e woods, but was unable to again find 

 them nesting. 



The measurements f)f the eggs are as follows : 

 2.00x1.02; 2.00x1.00, and 1.90x1.01 inches. 

 In all of this set the ground is of a dull grayish 

 white, though in two of them the markings are 

 so general as to almost obscure the ground. 

 No. 1 is heavily blotched with rich brown at 

 the smaller end, running back to the middle. 

 No. 2 is marked in a similar manner though the 

 markings are finer and smoother, as though 

 laid on with a brush and having run together. 

 The coloration of No. 3 is of a very iieculiar 

 and handsome form. Almost the entire sur- 

 face is obscured by a light brown evenly laid on, 

 with here and there a few heavy blotches scat- 



