19G 



ORKITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 12-No. 12 



minute, und the little boat fairly flew. I 

 wouldn't have cared if I could only have seen 

 where I was going, but the night was like a 

 wall of ink. At last, I concluded that the boat 

 was getting too full of water, I couldn't see 

 how much she was shipping but things felt 

 heavy all round, and when slie rose on a wave 

 she had not the right swing to her. So I 

 squared away before the wind and put her head 

 for shore, concluding that it was better to spend 

 the night in the marsh than to swamp. And, 

 somehow, instead of striking the marsh, I blun- 

 dered into the mouth of a creek and had a 

 brief breathing spell. Then a littie break in 

 the clouds lighted things up, and I saw where 1 

 was. A mile or so more would fetch me to a 

 landing and away I skimmed for the shore. But 

 if it was a wild night on the water, it was wild- 

 er on shore. The oaks groaned and roared, 

 and the pines fairly shrieked when a stronger 

 wind took them. Branches were snapping and 

 falling all about, and once in a wiiile an inde- 

 scribable sort of roar told that a big tree had 

 given away. Then the rain came, not in sheets 

 but solid. That was the last 1 knew. I was 

 astonished when I awoke in the morning to 

 find I had been asleep. So I got out my gun 

 and started to look for a bieakfast. My way 

 led me past the woodpecker's home. The 

 stump had blown down, not quite to the ground, 

 however. It had lodged in the crotch of a live 

 oak, and the little family were now in plain 

 sight, for the top had broken oft' leaving it i-oof- 

 less. They were four of the most hideous look- 

 ing objects that the imagination can conjure up, 

 and the old folks were now more solicitous for 

 their safety than ever before. 1 thought the 

 mother bird would fly in my face. She bounded 

 against me several times with her wings, so 

 after satisfying my curiosity I retreated. 



Since then, however, we have got better ac- 

 quainted, and when the young ones got to 

 scrambling around on the stump, they knew 

 me so well that they would flutter their wings 

 and stretch out their necks for a blackberry if 

 I ottered them one. The old mother too would 

 come and feed them close beside me. Last week, 

 they crawled up my sleeves, but when they got 

 as far as my neck I had to expostulate. Their 

 claws were just a trifle too sharp, and 1 disen- 

 gaged them as quietly as I could, but quite 

 rapidly. 



Then 1 left them in the clear summer sunset, 

 as comical a little group of bird life as any 

 one could wish to see. And to-day they are 

 gone ; I didn't know that I should miss them 

 so much. 



Notes on the Nesting of the Red- 

 tailed Hawk in Illinois. 



BY DR. W. S. STRODE, RERNADOTTE, ILL 



lViha])S in no other section of Illinois is the 

 Red-tail (Buteo horealis) so numerous as it is in 

 the Spoon River County around the village of 

 Bernadotte, for here is to be found every form 

 of river, creek, hill and prairie land. 



The hill and flats covered with large and 

 small timber, with a lining of hazel and finer 

 brush underneath, is favorite habitat of the 

 gray rabbit and other small rodents that fur- 

 nish the chief food supply during the nesting 

 season of this hawk and his interesting neigh- 

 bor, the Great-horned Owl (Buteo virginianus). 



During the winter season only an occasional 

 Red-tail is to be seen, but with the first indica- 

 tion of spring, in early March, they appear in 

 considerable numbers alreadj^ mated ; and from 

 this time to the end of the breeding season, 

 about May 15tli, they constitute a lively and 

 interesting feature of the landscape, giving it 

 variety and animation. After this they disap- 

 pear, where I do not know. Probably to some 

 of the cool health resorts of the north. At any 

 rate the sight of one during the hot summer 

 mouths is a rare occurrence. They reappear 

 again with the fall migration, in late Septem- 

 ber or in October, and a few remain with us 

 throughout the winter. 



In choosing a nesting site they usually select 

 a very tall tree, standing on a side hill or at 

 the head of a hollow, placing the nest among 

 the topmost branches. This tree is frequently 

 chosen with an ej^e to its non-climbability and 

 is often forty feet or more to the first limbs. 



In the last few years the demands made on 

 the larger growth of hickory and oak by the 

 lumber dealers of this county has destroyed 

 many of the favorite nesting localities of the 

 Red-tail and they have been driven to seek nest- 

 ing places elsewhere. 



Here again they have displayed almost hu- 

 man sagacity in selecting the gigantic cotton- 

 wood and sycamore trees of the river bottom, 

 instead of the more numerous but less liigh 

 elms and soft maples. 



In these trees, with the nest almost among 

 the clouds, they would have no fears of a visit 

 from the oiilogical collector, for in some posi- 

 tions in which I found their nests last season, 

 no collector unless he wished to connnit sui- 

 cide, would think for a minute of climbing. 



On the bank of the "Classic Spoon," a half 



