88 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 11. 



by 1.60 inches in width, and vary but little 

 in size but considerable in shape, ranging 

 from a rounded oval to pyriform. I am 

 inclined to believe that they rear but a sin- 

 gle brood during a season. 



The Mexican Goshawk is exceedingly 

 graceful in all its motions, a swift flyer, re- 

 sembling the American Goshawk in many 

 respects, but it seems to prefer the open 

 country more than the latter. I found it 

 by no means shy and could have secured 

 a number of specimens had I been inclined 

 to do so, but I wanted their eggs more than 

 the birds themselves. The single male 

 killed by me for identification on May 17th, 

 1872, measured as follows: wing, 10.25 

 inches; tail, 7 inches; length, 16 inches; 

 extent of wings, 33 inches. Iris, brown; 

 cere and tarsi, yellow; bill, dark blue horn 

 color; claws, the same strong and large for 

 the size of the bird. It is stated that this 

 bird feeds principally on lizards, but al- 

 though the latter are exceedingly plentiful 

 throughout southern Arizona, I am satis- 

 fied that small birds form no inconsiderable 

 portion of its food. It leaves for its winter 

 haunts in the commencement ot October. 

 — Capt> C/ias. E. Bendire, U. S. A. 



Our Two Cuckoos 



BREEDING IN ONE NEST. 



May 24th, 1881, I found a pair of Black- 

 billed Cuckoos [Coccyzus erythrophtJuxbiius) 

 building a nest in the forks of a small wil- 

 low about three feet from the ground. 

 The nest was merely a handful of willow 

 catkins and was without form. May 25th, 

 visited the nest at 2 P. M.; the bird was on 

 but left as I approached; nest completed 

 and contained one egg. May 26th, visited 

 nest at 11 A.M.; found bird on; nest con- 

 tained two eggs, one of which was that of 

 the Yellow billed spec.ies {Coccyzus Avieri- 

 canus) May 27th, called at the nest at 2.30 

 P. M,; bird on — four eggs. May 28th, vis- 

 ited nest at 10 A. M.; bird at home — four 

 eggs. May 29th, called at nest at i P. M.; 

 bird absent — four eggs. May 30th, visited 



nest at 4 P. M.; bird absent; found six 

 eggs, two of which were those of the Yel- 

 low-billed species. May 31st, called at the 

 nest at 5 P. M.; found bird on, but it left 

 in haste as I neared the nest; found 

 six eggs. Think this was the Yellow-billed 

 species but am not positive. I could al- 

 ways approach the nest when occupied by 

 the Black-bill without giving her any seri- 

 ous alarm and in one case I laid my hand 

 on the nest before she left. June ist, visit- 

 ed nest at 12 30 ; bird on, but left as I ap- 

 proached. I was not able to get near 

 enough to identify the species, but think it 

 was the Yellow-bill — six eggs. On the 2d 

 of June urgent business called me from 

 home until June'5th. At 3 P. M. I visited 

 the nest and found it empty except frag- 

 ments of shells. I collected the nest June it. 

 This nest was composed of the woolly 

 catkins of the willow, with a few coarse 

 twigs and leaf stems of the previous year. 

 The measurements were as follows : diam- 

 eter, about 6 inches; from top to base, 6 

 inches ; depth of cavity, i inch. The 

 Black-billed Cuckoo was first taken by me 

 in 1866. For the last ten years it has been 

 noticed every year excepting 1879. The 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoo was one of our 

 earliest birds here. I have known it over 

 thirty-five years, but it has been for years 

 past growing scarce. It might be well to 

 remark that both species are summer resi- 

 dents. — Dr. H. A. Atkins^ Locke, Michigafi. 



OoLOGicAL Incubation Experiments. 



— For several years Dr. William Wood has 



been experimenting by hatching Hawk's 



eggs under domestic fowls to ascertain the 



length of time necessary for each variety 



to hatch. These experiments the doctor 



promises to put in shape for our columns 



at an early day. 



»♦« 



Black-backed Three-toed VVood- 



PECKEK {Picoides arcticus.) — Mr. Jason E. 



Nichols, of Lansing, Michigan, reports that 



while out hunting in the northern part of 



that State, in latitude 44, he captured a 



male of the above species of Woodpecker. 



