182 NOTES ON THE 
Others claim to have seen several of them associated upon their 
first reaching us, but I have never seen more than a pair to- 
gether, and in no half-day devoted to collections have I ever 
met with more than two pairs. They preferably frequent dis- 
tricts where there is considerable open, scattering timber, con- 
taining brush and thickets. These afford it Ruffed Grouse, 
quails, squirrels and rabbits, of each and all of which they 
are exceptionally fond. Although reputedly a terror to do- 
mestic fowls in other sections of the country, I have never 
known them to disturb them here. We undoubtedly have the 
best of domestic cocks, and Minnesota enjoys a first-class rep- 
utation for ‘‘crowing” (Crow Wing?) which may, or may not 
account for the local exemption of the barnyards. Not far _ 
from the 25th of April, they begin to build their nests in the 
forks of large trees, elevated as much as the firmness of the 
branching limbs will permit.* The nest consists of sticks 
outwardly, lined variously with strips of bark, leaves, moss, 
twigs and hay, and is quite bulky horizontally, with slight de- 
depressions for the four dull white eggs. It has long since 
been said that this species does not quit the nest after the first 
egg has been deposited, and I am now satisfied that this is true 
frequently enough to constitute a rule. It becomes possible 
from the fact that both seexs equally share the incubatory 
duties more faithfully than any other known species of the 
hawks. <A young bird is occasionally found in the nest ten 
days before the last egg is hatched. Along the principal car- 
riage way between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and not very far 
from it, a pair of these hawks have built since 1874. It is not 
a little remarkable that they should have escaped the shotguns 
of the numerous boy-hunters of the two cities so long, to say 
nothing of the hazards of hunting their quarry after the whole 
family have taken the field. I have never seen them moving in 
circles after the manner of many others of the larger species, 
but directly forward, skimming close to the tops of the taller 
trees until diverted by the discovery of prey, when it dashes 
downward with tremendous velocity. Should it prove to bea 
rabbit, and once under way for its hole, the chase becomes 
amusing to see how the bird will strike when the rabbit passes 
an opening, which indeed must be a narrow one if it escapes, 
as they not infrequently do. If the game is a Ruffed Grouse, 
*While characteristic, this position of the nest is not without frequent exceptions, as 
I have known them to occupy the forks of a large horizontal limb fifteen or more feet 
from the trunk, and underneath the larger portions of the top. 
