28 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The Red-tailed Hawk in Hardin County 

 Iowa. 



Although this bird has been frequent- 

 ly spoken of in the Oologist and other 

 papers it has not had much representa- 

 tion in Iowa or at least in this locality. 

 This Hawk is quite plentiful in this vi- 

 cinity from the fact that we have so 

 many gophers or prairie squirrels, 

 which, is one of their chief articles of 

 food. 1 have taken sBven sets of their 

 ■eggs in the seasons of '94 and '95 be- 

 sides those taken by other collectors. 

 The nesting season begins about April 

 -lOth and lasts until May 20. The best 

 time to find full sets is from April 20th 

 to May 1st. I have no, way of measur- 

 ing the eggs taken but think that they 

 will average larger than those given by 

 Davie, although W. A. Davidson of De- 

 troit, Mich., tells me that the o&es I 

 sent him are smaller than those collect- 

 ed in his locality. Tnere are generally 

 two eggs in a nest but not uncommonly 

 I find three. Davie says they some- 

 times lay four but I have never had the 

 luck to find a set of four. 



Below I give extracts from the datas 

 ', for the sets collected, in '94 and '95: 



April 20, 1894. ; Eggs, three; incuba- 

 tion just commenced. Nest in burr- 

 oak tree about , 60 ft. up. Made of 

 coarse sticks and lined with bark and 

 moss. Very large bjiit shallow. 



May 10, 1894. Eggs, two; incubation 

 . advanced, Nest in oak tree about 40 

 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks and lined 

 with bark, moss and a few feathers. 



April 16, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 ,tion fresh. Nest in large tree about 30 

 ft. up and out on a horizontal limb 

 about 12 ft. from body of the tree. 

 Made of coarse sticks and lined wjith 

 bark and moss. Very shallow, nea,rly 

 flat. 



April 21, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion begun. Nest in white oak tree 

 about 40 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks 

 and two pieces of cornstalk and lined 

 with bark, corn husks and buds. 



• I went to this nest again on May 6tlj 

 and, found one egg in the nest. I left 

 it thinking |I would get another set. 

 On the 10th I returned and saw the fe- 

 male leave the nest. I climbed the tree 

 but found only one egg. I don't know 

 whether the Hawk laid only one egg or 

 whether one had been destroyed. The 

 egg was slightlj incubated. 



April 25, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion fresh. Nest in bass wood tree 50 

 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks and lined 

 with bark, corn husks, catkins and 

 moss. A very large nest. 



May 11, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion slight. Nest in red oak tree about 

 35 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks and 

 lined with bark and moss. A very 

 thick nest but very shallow inside. 



Davie speaks of the Red-tail nesting 

 in old Crows' nests rebuilt but I have 

 never found them to do so in this lo- 

 cality. They will continue to lay in 

 the same nest several years in succes- 

 sion even after being robbed but I 

 think it is the same pair that use the 

 nest again. Sometimes after being 

 robbed they will the next season build 

 a new nest within a few rods of the old 

 one instead of looking up a new local- 

 ity. Clarence Hartwgek, 

 Alden, Iowa. 



Early Collecting-. 



I went to the woods yesterday and 

 got two sets of two Great Horned Owl's 

 eggs saw five Meadowlarks, two Doves, 

 one Mockingbird, three Robins, two 

 Bluebirds, five Towhees and a host of 

 Woodpeckers of the Downy, Hairy, 

 Red-head, Flicker and Yellow-bellied 

 species. Nuthatches, Chickadees, Creep- 

 er Kinglets, Sparrows, Red-shouldered 

 Hawk, Snowbirds, and the strange part 

 of the programme is, the mercury reg- 

 istered zero. I used to think Meadow- 

 larks, Doves, Robins, Bluebirds and 

 the like could not stand very much 

 cold weather but I see they do. 



If nothing prevents I shall endeavor 

 to send you some notes for publication 

 this year. C. B. Vandercook, 



Jan. 20, 1897. Odin, Ills. 



