74 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 10. 



mating eggs by dry measure, I will add that 

 at the right time in May, with a good horse 

 and two expert climbers, I will agree to get 

 a bushel of Crows' eggs near here in one 

 day.) 



From the long appearance of the females' 

 tail of this species, shown when covering 

 their eggs, and when sailing over low patch- 

 es of woods these Hawks are called here 

 by the farmers. Long-tailed Hawks and Pri- 

 vateers. But the most appropriate country 

 name is Chicken Hawk. 



Coopers are the most deadly scourge; in 

 country farmyards. While the Buteos give 

 warning of their Avhereabouts by soaring 

 far overhead for hours and sometimes days 

 before dropping among the young poultry, 

 the dreaded Accipiters, sailing very low, 

 will suddenly start over a wall and be off 

 with a chicken without notice. The old 

 domestic cocks and Guinea fowl will see a 

 Buteo when but a speck in the sky, and on 

 a too near approach to earth of the com- 

 mon enemy sound an alarm which sends all 

 the timid ones to cover. But even after 

 repeated raids of the Cooper, his advance 

 is so unheralded, and his dash so quick, that 

 he gets off scot free, even though the farm- 

 er stands in his doorway with gun in hand. 

 Many a time has a countryman made his 

 moan to me about the Privateer carrying off 

 all his chickens, when I knew where said 

 "Privateer's" nest was and was secretly 

 hoping to get a nicely marked set of eggs 

 therefrom. But as a reward for keeping 

 my guilty secret, the only markings my set 

 displayed would be the blood stains from 

 the quarry taken from the neighboring 

 poultry yard. 



The smallest males are not unlike an old 

 female Sharp-shinned, but the old females 

 are greatly superior in size and strength to 

 any A. fiiscus. During the months of Au- 

 gust and September, the present season, a 

 large Cooper's Hawk haunted a marsh of a 

 few acres on Groton Long Point, known as 

 Pear Point Swamp. Just clearing the tops 

 of the low trees in his noiseless flight, twice 

 a day he would come skimming along over 



this favorite hunting ground. He was seen 

 to pick up vermin, finches of several kinds, 

 and a few small leteridae. One afternoon 

 he made a bold dash at a muskrat, and 

 though there was actual contact it was brief, 

 and. both rat and Accipiter appeared more 

 frightened than hurt. — /. M. fV., Nor- 

 wich, Conti. 



•♦• 



California Quail 



BREEDING IN THE GARDEN. 



On the twenty-seventh of May, 1880, I 

 placed some brush and rubbish fifteen feet 

 trom the front steps, in a triangle of the 

 driveway. On the third of June I stooped 

 down to set fire to the brush and I saw three 

 Quail's eggs. I left them, hoping if it was 

 a Quail that had been there she would come 

 again. The following morning I found the 

 fourth egg. I then piled more brush on so 

 that no one could discover my treasure and 

 carry them off. 



I called the attention of Dr. Cooper to 

 the location of the nest, as carriages and 

 persons were passing nearly every hour of 

 the day within four feet of the nest, and he 

 thought it should be made a note of. 



Henry Chapman, ornithologist, and L 

 Mailliard, oologist, of Nicasio, called and 

 both were confident that when she com- 

 menced sitting the interruptions she would 

 be liable to meet with would frighten her 

 from her nest. 



June 7th, I pttt my hand in the nest and 

 the Quail flew out, but made her morning 

 call on the eighth. June 14th, I went to the 

 nest and found her sitting on fourteen eggs. 

 I had my face within eighteen inches of her 

 and could see her eyes, but she did not 

 seem disturbed or annoyed. 



In the meantime for the week that had 

 passed, 1 had been watching the marital 

 devotions of the male Quail. He would 

 place himself in a tree in the orchard, three 

 hundred yards from the house, give his call- 

 note — krick kri — three or four times for his 

 mate, and he seemed to know how long it 

 would take her to get to the roadway. 



