January, 1882.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



87 



Mexican Gosha\vk, 



The little Asturina iiitida plagiata 

 Ridg of which I beh'eve I obtained the 

 first specimen actually taken within the 

 borders of the United States, May 17th, 

 1872, but said to have been previously seen 

 on August 19th, 187 1, by Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway, Richland County, Illinois, (vide 

 Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, volume III, 

 page twenty-four. Birds of North America.) 

 It is not an uncommon summer resident in 

 the southern portions of Arizona Territory. 

 Of the life history of this, one of the 

 handsomest of our Raptores, comparative- 

 ly little is still known. During the month 

 of April, 1872, I saw several of these 

 Hawks among the timber bordering Rillitto 

 creek, near Tucson, Arizona Territory, 

 where I subsequently also found it breed- 

 ing and obtained several sets of their eggs. 

 I also noticed this species at different 

 points along the Santa Cruz as M'ell as on 

 the San Pedro Rivers. Its range will un- 

 doubtedly be found to extend as far north as 

 the Gila River at least, if not farther, when 

 properly looked after. 



My attention was first drawn to these 

 Hawks by their peculiar call-notes, which 

 resemble the piping of the Long-billed 

 Curlew {Numenius longirostris) so much 

 that I at first supposed some of these birds 

 to be about, but I soon found out that they 

 emanated from this little Hawk, which was 

 then a perfect stranger to me. The birds 

 were very noisy during the mating season 

 and although I was very anxious to find 

 out what species I had to deal with I left 

 them alone till after they had commenced 

 nesting, as I wanted the eggs more than I 

 did the birds themselves. 



By referring to my notes I find that the 

 first pair of these birds were seen by me 

 on April 4th, 1872, circling high in the air 

 and finally settling down on a dry branch 

 of a tall cotton-wood tree growing in the 

 Rillitto creek bottom. On May 17th I took 

 the first set of eggs of this species and shot 

 the male bird at the same time. The nest 



was placed on a large cotton-wood tree 

 near the Laguna, nine miles west of Tuc- 

 son. It was located in the top-most 

 branches of the tree, not less than seventy 

 feet from the ground and contained three 

 fine fresh eggs. The nest, not a very sub- 

 stantial affair, consisted of a shallow plat- 

 form, composed principally of small cotton - 

 wood twigs, a number of them broken off 

 green by the birds themselves. I have 

 seen them do this, selecting a suitable twig, 

 then flying at it very swiftly, grasping it 

 with the talons and usually succeeding in 

 breaking it at the first trial. Many of the 

 twigs referred to had the leaves attached 

 to them yet only partly dried. The inner 

 lining of the nest consisted of dry cotton- 

 wood leaves and the tops of willows, the 

 latter also taken while green. No bark or 

 any other material than that mentioned 

 was used in the construction of this nest. 



Another found June 6th, 1872, contained 

 but two eggs on which the bird had been 

 setting for about a week. It was also 

 placed in the upper branches of one of the 

 largest cotton-wood trees on Rillitto creek 

 and resembled the first one in structure, 

 but was lined with a few strips of bark and 

 dry leaves. The eggs described in volume 

 III, page 248, Birds of North America, by 

 Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, were taken out 

 of this nest. 



A third set of their eggs was taken on 

 June 19th, likewise found in a tall cotton- 

 wood. These, two in number, had been 

 set on a few days. 



The fourth and last nest I found on June 

 20th, containing two eggs partly incubated. 

 This nest was likewise placed in a large 

 cotton-wood on one of the outer limbs and 

 about fifty feet from the ground, extremely 

 hard to get at and was lined entirely with 

 partly dry cotton-wood leaves. The native 

 Mexicans call this bird " Gavilan Prieta." 

 The eggs of this species are pale blueish 

 white in color and unspotted, but are al- 

 ways more or less stained and soiled with 

 a yellowish matter hard to clean off. 

 They measure about 2 inches in length 



