206 



THE OOLOGIST. 



from the ground. "The highest nest 

 which I ever found" said he, "was 60 

 feet up in an ash tree and the one near- 

 est the ground was at only 15 feet ele- 

 vation in a white oak and the average 

 is about 35 feet. The nests do not aver- 

 age as high as the nests of the Buzzard 

 Hawks and are not as easily found as 

 they are. The only way that I can ac- 

 count for the lower catalogue price of 

 Cooper's Hawk's eggs is because this 

 species nests in trees easier to ascend 

 and the number of eggs in the sets is 

 larger. For the nests are certainty 

 much more difficult to find than the 

 Buteo's nests. In fact, if one takes into 

 account the large number of old squir- 

 rel's nests which are climbed to by inex- 

 perienced, collectors, then the actual 

 work for the average set of blue-back 

 hawk's eggs is fully equal to that of any 

 other species which nests in Michigan. 



•'It is very foolish to climb to any 

 Hawk's nest until one knows that the 

 birds have been about it for the season, 

 and I rarely spend time on a nest unless 

 I see or hear the birds in the vicinity. 

 It is unusual to find two pairs of Hawks 

 of one species occupying one patch of 

 woods at a time. So when I see a 

 Cooper about, I run through a grove, 

 pick out the most likely nest, and if it 

 is proper time for them, I climb the 

 tree. One can judge by the sticks on 

 the grounds under the nest as to the 

 progress made, for all Hawks drop ma- 

 terial in nest construction. 



"I rarely have to climb to a Hawk's 

 nest more than twice for the eggs and 

 if I am much in the woods and have a 

 chance to observe fully, then one as- 

 cent is usually sufficient. Taking all 

 the species of Hawks here, and the act- 

 ual number of climbs made, I believe 

 that the ascents will average me nearly 

 or quite two eggs, while some inexper- 

 ienced collectors whom I have met, 

 will climb a dozen trees to get a single 

 set of eggs. Everything depends on 

 observation, and to successfully visit 



Hawk's nests is as much a subject of 

 study as the hunter's love which enables 

 him to secure game where the green- 

 horn will fail." 



We now reached a large woods, and 

 as the fence was down we drove in 

 by a meandering old wood road. The 

 pleasure was accorded me of witnessing 

 my friend make an ascent to a nest. 

 The old bird was seen to leave the nest 

 and was heard clacking as she flew 

 about. From the momeLt that K. left 

 the carriage until he returned with the 

 set of five eggs, it took him just four 

 minutes and twenty-seven seconds. It 

 was a beautiful set, unusually blue, and 

 with numerous small spots of brown. 



It was now past the noon hour and 

 visiting a farmer's house where we pro- 

 cured some milk, we ate our lunch 

 and continued our search. Passing 

 near a heavy oak woods we saw a Red- 

 tailed Hawk perched near a nest in a 

 large white oak, and K. climbed to the 

 nest, more as a matter of curiosity than 

 with hopes, as he had robbed the same 

 over five weeks previously. He found 

 a young bird and an addled egg. 



"Ordinarily it does not pay to spend 

 time on any nests except the one spe- 

 cies which you are in search of. The 

 collector who goes out with an idea of 

 general collection usually fails, as does 

 the amateur gunner who sets out with 

 the intention of shooting a variety of 

 game. If one is collecting Cooper's 

 Hawk's eggs, thats enough for one trif), 

 and to do well no attention should be 

 given to any thing else. ' ' 



In the course of a mile we came to a 

 dense piece of woodland where the 

 smaller trees and underbrush grew 

 very thickly about and made walking 

 almost impossible. Here we found a 

 nest in a small black oak at not over 

 twenty feet from the ground, in a very 

 dense part of the wood. Any boy 

 could have climbed that tree in two 

 minutes, but very few amateur oolo- 

 gist's would have thought of looking in 



