Chapin: Nests of Owls and Hawks 7 



In the meantime I had found a third nest at Eltingville, about 

 forty feet up in a chestnut tree. This nest, on April 20, contained 

 three eggs, and was lined with pine twigs. The bird sitting on it 

 was in full adult plumage. By May 5 some cedar twigs had been 

 added to the lining, but the eggs had not yet been hatched. On 

 May 19 there were three young hawks covered with fluffy white 

 down, and the nest was decked with twigs of a maple, an oak, 

 and a black birch. 



On June 1, while I was coming through the woods toward the 

 nest but was still forty or fifty feet away from the tree, one of 

 the adult hawks, without making a sound, swooped down at me, 

 passing about five feet overhead. On climbing up to the nest 

 I found it again lined with fresh twigs, and two of the young 

 birds becoming alarmed uttered screams very similar to those 

 of their parents. They were now somewhat over three weeks 

 old, and dark feathers were appearing on the sides of their 

 breasts, in the scapulars, and among the wing coverts, while 

 their wing and tail quills were about two and a half inches in 

 length. In the nest were feathers from a young chicken and a 

 scarlet tanager. 



A fourth nest was discovered by Mr. Isaac Wort at Wood- 

 row, May 19, 1907, situated about thirty-five feet from the 

 ground in a pin oak. Though I was present, I did not have 

 time, either just then or later, to climb the tree; but Mr. Wort 

 subsequently reported that he had seen the young hawks perched 

 outside the nest when they were about to leave it. 



Beside finding these four nests, we also located several other 

 pairs of the same hawk, evidently breeding, at Todt Hill, Willow 

 Brook, Richmond Hill, and Princes Bay. This was an easy mat- 

 ter on account of their conspicuous circling and screaming in the 

 early spring. From the few remains found of their prey it would 

 seem that the red-shouldered hawks, like barred owls, may eat 

 a larger number of birds in the breeding season than is usually 

 credited to them. 



3. The Barn Owl, Stri.v pratincola. In the Proceedings 

 1: 84. 1906, Mr. Wm. T. Davis has recorded the breeding of a 



