THE OOLOGIST. 



23 



Verdict: SutfocaLioii, brought on by 

 grief and disappointiueut. His surviv- 

 ing compauion also met with an untime- 

 ly and tragic death. Norton had two 

 Red- tails {Buteo borealis) in a shed ad- 

 jacent to the Caracara's coop, and one 

 day Master Polybonis got too near a 

 crack. 



As quick as a Hash, a murderous Buteo 

 grabbed poor Poly., and tore him to 

 pieces. 



For '93, I turn to my note book. 

 March 1st. Weut out to Norton's after 

 school, and on the w'ay, we went by a 

 Caracara's nest and found It rebuilt 

 with sticks and lined with cedar bark, 

 ready to be laid in. We then went over 

 by the "bee-tree" nest and found itcon- 

 taining one egg. Early the next morn- 

 ing, we took our baskets and started 

 out on a long tramp for eggs. We went 

 south about two and a half miles, find- 

 ing some good hawks' nests around a 

 hill that we gave the suggestive name 

 of "Razor-back " One of the nests was 

 ready to receive eggs. Then we went 

 east, and after going a little way, saw a 

 nest in an oak with a Caracara sitting 

 on a limb nearby. We ran to the tree, 

 and Norton climbed to the nest, but 

 there was a plentiful lack of anything 

 like eggs. 



On our approach, the bird Hew over 

 onto another tree nearby and allowed 

 us to come up quite near him. This 

 awakened our suspicions, as at other 

 times it is quite shy and will not let 

 anyone come up very near. We also 

 knew that the male always sits on a 

 particular tree not very far from the 

 nest where the female is sitting. So we 

 began to circle around to find the nest. 

 Soon I saw an immense structure in a 

 large live oak, and upon climbing up to 

 it found three eggs. They were still 

 warm, but neither of us had seen the 

 female. The male did not fly towards 

 the nest, but off to one side, and I sup- 

 pose alariTicd his mate in some way. 

 The female in leaving a nest never 



soars or liys away at any height from 

 the ground; always below the tree tops, 

 but she soon alights. 



The nest was composed of weeds and 

 small sticks, about thirty feet from the 

 ground and measured two feet across 

 by one foot deep. Then we proceeded 

 eastward a mile and a half to a creek 

 called the Salado, and after following 

 up the stream for about a mile, struck 

 out acroteS the country home. After 

 dinner we went over to the "bee-tree" 

 and added another set of two eggs to 

 our collection. The eggs of these two 

 sets were typical; a ground color of 

 cinnamon and other shades of brown, 

 spotted, blotched and clouded with yel- 

 lowish - brown, chestnut and other 

 shades. 



March 18th. After breakfast we stall- 

 ed out and went ove" the same route. 

 The hawk's nest on Razor-back, that 

 was all fixed up, was fixed all over 

 again by a Caracara with weeds, and 

 the birds were flying around very sus- 

 piciously. Then we examined the nest 

 from which we tnok the set of three on 

 the 2d, but it was empty. Over near 

 the Salado we took a set of two eggs of 

 the Red-tailed Hawk. The nest was 

 composed of sticks, lined with bunch- 

 moss and situated in a live oak 25 feet 

 from the ground. 



The ground color was blueish-white, 

 spotted and blotched with reddish- 

 brown and cinnamon. 



In returning home we ran across a 

 Road-runner's nest, containing four 

 eggs in the midst of a bush. The nest 

 was made of sticks, lined with dead 

 grass, three feet from the ground. 

 Road-runners are scarce in that pai-t of 

 the country, owing to the miserable 

 "Sunday huuters," who go out just to 

 see what they can shoot, so we were 

 luckey in running across this nest. 



March 25th. About nine o'clock we 

 started out on our old route. On 

 "Razor-back" we took a set of three 

 eggs of the Caracara from the hawk's 



