Dec. 1887.] 



AT^D OOLOGIST. 



197 



mile above the town, stands one of tliese lofty 

 trees, a giant syeaniore twenty-one feet in cir- 

 cumference, that has been used as a nesting 

 site bj' these hawks time out of mind. Many a 

 time lias the sportsman with nuirderous intent 

 sent up from the I'iver below a charge of shot 

 at the brooding parent bird, but usually with 

 no eftect, except to frighten her. 



In the spring of 1885 a young man aimed 

 with an army umsket, heavily charged with 

 large shot, and gave the female her death 

 wound as she perched on the edge of tlie nest 

 feeding her yomig. She simply settled down 

 over the domicile, spreading her wings across it 

 and over her baljy birds and expired, and for 

 months afterwards her dead body was to be 

 seen in this position, a silent yet eloquent re- 

 proach to the eruelty and rajiacity of the great 

 destroyer man. 



The next spring, 1886, the male appeared 

 with another mate, and after hovering about 

 the old tree for a few days they left it and 

 went to a wooded slope a half mile away, and 

 in a large white oak built a nest and reared 

 their young. Probably evidences of the foul 

 murder committed a year before still remained 

 at the old nest and decided them against using 

 it. 



Last spring, 1887, they appeared about March 

 1st and at once set about repairing the old 

 home in the sycamore, and for two weeks, dur- 

 ing which time I was making professional trips 

 up the river in mj- boat every two or three 

 days, they came under my observation, and 

 with no thought of doing so at first, the desire 

 began to develop and grow upon me to scale 

 that tree and secure the contents of that nest, 

 until finally on March 12th I gathered together 

 a coil of rope, a ball of string, my climbers and 

 an axe. I was accompanied by a friend and 

 we repaired to the tree and at once set about 

 devising the l)est means to get up to the forks, 

 about thirty feet high. \Ve finally decided to 

 cut a hackberry sapling tliat grew near by and 

 by trinnning up about twenty-five feet of it we 

 succeeded, after nnich tugging and lifting, in 

 elevating it against the side of the ti'ee. Put- 

 ting on my climl)ers, I went uj) this and from 

 the top was enabled by the aid of the sap- 

 sprouts that here sprung out to get over into 

 the forks of the tree. After resting a few min- 

 utes I now went on rapitlly towards tlie nest 

 until J had come within ten feet of it. I then 

 made the startling discovery that the limb on 

 which the nest was placed narrowed down to 

 the thickness of my leg and was hollow and 

 full of Woodpecker holes on the under sid<'. It 



was a rather ticklish condition of things and I 

 was a hundred feet from the ground. But my 

 blood was up and I had come too far to l)ack 

 out now. Cautiously and slowly I went on up 

 until with one hand I reached over into the nest 

 and grasi)iiig the two eggs it contained, I 

 (luickly slid down the limb two feet and there 

 rested. Putting the eggs into a mitten I at- 

 tached the ball of string to it and safely low- 

 ered them to my companicm below. The 

 hawks all this time were perched just over my 

 head, constantly uttering their shrill screams. 

 I made the descent safely and after reaching 

 term firma presented nnu-h the api)earance of 

 having been rolled in a flour bin. 



Of this hawk I took last season nineteen sets 

 of eggs, about half of them being sets of three. 

 The nests invariably were made of sticks and 

 twigs from a half inch in diameter down. The 

 lining in luost cases w^as of grajie vine bark 

 and oak leaves, with occasionally a few feath- 

 ers or bits of moss. 



Transportation of Eggs in the Field. 



BY A. M. INTiEHSOI-l. AM) WALTEH K. BRYANT. 



Various devii-es are used for safely carrj'ing 

 eggs in the field, for at such times more care is 

 needed to prevent their breaking than after the 

 contents have been removed. 



We presume that no one at the present day 

 attempts to prepare specimens in the field, and 

 that the time is now past when the eggs of even 

 the connnon species are entrusted to a tin can 

 filled with meal or sawdust, in preference to a 

 wooden box and cotton. 



The safest and most convenient method, and 

 one which we have adopted after repeated tests 

 — and we believe we have tested all — was de- 

 signed about eight years ago by Mr. I). S. Bry- 

 ant, and is now in use by many prominent col- 

 lectors with very gratifying results. It consists 

 of a wooden box with hinged cover, but cigar 

 boxes will answer with but slight alteration. 

 The bottom, on the inside, is covered with a 

 piece of thick cloth or cotton wadding, and upon 

 this is placed a framework of cardl)oard spaces 

 similar to those employed in partitioning cases 

 for shipping hen's eggs. The cardboai-d should 

 not reach to the top of the box, space enough 

 being left to lay on a piece of cotton wadding 

 like the one on the bottom. Pieces of cotton 

 wadding or cloth, cut the same width as the 

 cardboard strips, are used to line the spaces. 

 It is best to place only one egg in each space 



