I'.M.COXin.K- TIIK I'AI.CttXS. 2l!» 



fnoding flio yninvi. Tlicir ncsls iiihs Viiiidusly (•onslriictcd as tn iiiiiluiiiils, 

 usiiall}' ciiiclly (if hay sdiiicwlial cluiiisily \viniit,'li(, tnjictlii'V iiitd tlif t'lirm 

 of a Jicst, )nit iicvi'i' vciy iiic(;!y iiilurwuvcii ; (iriasiniiiiUy, in iuoit iiinlhciii 

 localities, they aiv lincil with leathers, in some cases willi jiiiie-iieedles and 

 small twins. 



Ificliardsun statos tliat all the ne^ts of this IlawU olisevved hy him were 

 built oil tile nrouud \,y the side of small lakes, of moss, j^'rass, i'eatiiers, and 

 hair, and idnlaineil iVoni three to hve effi^s, of a bluisli-whiti- color, and un- 

 sjioUed. The latter measured 1.7") inches in length, and were an inch across 

 where widest. The position and mannei' of construct inji the nest correspond 

 with uiy own experience, hut the size of the e<'j'.s does not. 'I'he nest.'. liav(! 

 been invariably on the ground, n(^ar water, built of dry grass, and liiu'd with 

 softer materials. 



Mr. Audubon gives a very minute account of a nest whieh he found on 

 Galveston Island, Te.xas. U was about ii hundred yards from n po"d, on a 

 ridge just raised above the marsh, and was made of dry grass ; the internal 

 diameter was eight, and the external twelve inches, with the dejith of two 

 and a half Xo feathers were found. This absouco of a warm lining in 

 Texas really proves nothing. A warm lining may be reijui \ in latitude 

 05° north, and the same necessity not found in one of L'!»'. A nest ob.served 

 in Concord, JMass., by J)r. K. 11. Storer, was on the edge of a jiond, and was 

 warmly lined with feathers and fine grasses. Many other instances might 

 be named. 



The eggs found in the (Jalveston nest were four in number, smooth, con- 

 siderably rounded or broadly elliptical, bluish-white, l.Vo inches in length, 

 and 1.25 in breadth. Another nest, found under a low Imsb on the Alle- 

 ghanies, was constructed in a similar manner, but was more bulky; the bed 

 being lour inches above the earth, and the egg slightly sprinkled with small 

 marks of pale reddish-brown. 



The prevalent impression that the eggs of this Hawk iiro generally un- 

 spotted, so far as 1 am aware, is not correct. All that I have ever seen, 

 except the eggs above referred to I'rom Texas, and a lew others, have been UKjre 

 or less marked with light-brown blotches. These markings ai-e not always 

 very distinct, but, as far as my present experience goes, they are to be found, 

 if carefully sought. In 1850 I received from Dr. Dixon, of Damariscotta, 

 a nest with six eggs of a Hawk of this species. The female had been shot 

 as she flew from the nest. With a single exception, all the eggs were very 

 distinctly blotched and spotted. In shape they were of a rather oblong- 

 oval, rounded at both ends, the smaller end well defined. They varied in 

 length from 2.00 to 1.87 inches, and in breadth from 1.44 to l.o8 inches. Their 

 gronnd-color was a dirty bluish-white, which in one was nearly unspotted, the 

 markings so faint as to be hardly percei)tible, and only upon a close inspec- 

 tion. In all the others, spots and lilotches of a light shade of purplish-brown 

 occured, in a greater or less degree, over their entire surface. In two, the 



