tkti doLodist 



«1 



1-1, Apr. 8, 1909; set 1--1, May 14, 1909; 

 set 1-2, Mar. 27, 1910; set 1-2, Mar. 27, 

 1910; set 1--3, Mar. 31, 1910; set 1-1, 

 Mar. 31, 1910; set 1--3, Apr. 7, 1910; 

 set 1-3, Mar. 31, 1911; set 1-1, Apr. 

 7, 1911; set 1-3, Apr. 7, 1911; set 1-3, 

 Apr. 29, 1911; set 1-2, May 11, 1911. 



This season I have taken 3 sets of 

 two eggs each and have not been to 

 all of my friends. 



The American Sparrow Hawk. 



This pretty little Hawk (Falco spar- 

 verius) is probably the most common 

 of our Hawks. It nests in natural cav- 

 ities and old Flicker holes in the trees 

 bordering the creek banks. The nest- 

 ing sites vary from 12 to 75 feet from 

 the ground. 



No lining is used but eggs layed 

 simply on the bottom of the cavity. I 

 have been quite successful in finding 

 their nests by rowing down creek in 

 a boat and approaching the sycamores 

 growing on the bank. When near 

 enough I strike the tree with a stout 

 pole and if occupied, one or both 

 Hawks are usually in the air at once. 

 Have taken twenty sets of eggs and 

 the sets are numbered as follows: 

 11 sets of five eggs each. 

 9 sets of four eggs each. 



Most of these sets are heavily mark- 

 ed, especially from the older birds 

 and make a beautiful series. Last 

 year I located one nest in a dead elm 

 not over twenty feet from the ground. 

 I sounded the tree with my hatchet 

 but could not scare the bird out. 1 

 climbed the tree and lifted the female 

 from her five fresh eggs. She did not 

 seem the least frightened when I turn- 

 ed her loose but flew slowly and silent- 

 ly away. 



This little Hawk is apt to use the 

 same tree and nesting place for 

 years. I have collected sets from the 

 same tree three and four years regu- 

 larly. The best time to locate their 

 homes is in the last half of May and 



first part of June when I find them 

 very noisy in feeding the young. Then 

 next season visit them when eggs are 

 ripe. I have watched the Sparrow 

 make ten and even twelve trips in an 

 hour to the nest when feeding young 

 which goes to show what splendid 

 mousers they must be. 



The Barn Owl (Strix pratincola) 



The Barn Owl or Monkey-face is a 

 rare bird in this locality and I have 

 seen but four in seven years. When 

 out collecting. May 20, 1909, I found 

 a nest in a large Sycamore cavity 

 which had six young. The next year 

 on April 2, 1911 I found four fresh 

 eggs in the nest. I took the eggs and, 

 returning a week later got the rest of 

 the set, making nine eggs in all. The 

 tree was a sycamore leaning out over 

 the Salt Fork creek and the nesting 

 hole was twenty feet above the water. 

 On this visit I scared both birds from 

 the cavity. They sat in the tree only 

 ten feet away while I took the eggs. 

 They hatched a set the same summer 

 but not at the same place. 



The Owls might never have been 

 discovered by me had I not heard 

 them a winter night when I was sleep- 

 ing in a tent while on a trapping trip. 



The Owls are at the same place this 

 year (1912) but uj) to April 12th, had 

 not layed yet. 



Guy Worthington Day. 

 Sidney, 111. 



The Duck Hawk. 



When at Lehigh University in 1893 

 a fellow-student and myself visited the 

 "Narrows" of the Delaware River, 

 some twelve miles below Easton, 

 Pennsylvania, on several occasions. 

 Here a precipitous cliff rises from al- 

 most the water's edge four hundred 

 feet, near the top of which are many 

 narrow and inaccessible ledges. The 

 whole region, which was then but 

 thinly settled, is well known to Natur- 



