THE OOLOGIST. 



47 



down four times. The first nest was 

 built in a chestnut, the second in a 

 white oak, this nest was 100 feet up, 

 Mr. H. taking a pair of young birds by 

 felling a tree against the one contain- 

 ing the nest. The third nest was in an- 

 other chestnut. Fifteen years ago the 

 Eagles first built in the present red oak 

 on the central limb, where it remained 

 for eleven or twelve years, when it, too, 

 was blown down, and they built the 

 present nest. Some years ago one of 

 old ones was shot. The other sailed 

 away, returning next day with a mate. 

 While building the nest the Eagles 

 would lly along and seize a dead limb 

 in their claws, thus breaking it off. 

 The male does not allow any Eagle to 

 rest near his domain and drives him 

 away by a series of attacks. This led 

 to the capture of two Eagles under pe- 

 culiar circumstances. A farmer west 

 of Port Stanley, while walking along 

 the shore, came upon two Eagles with 

 their feet bound fast in the long grass. 

 They had been fighting with the result 

 that they were both captured alive. 



One of our commonest Hawks is the 

 Red-shouldered {Buteo Imeatus). This 

 large Hawk may be seen sailing in 

 graceful circles, high above the trees, 

 most any line day. It is one of the 

 "Hen Hawks' of tha farmer, and often 

 faces a victim to his vengeance on a 

 charge of chicken stealing, a charge 

 which he is seldom, if evei', guilty of, 

 his food consisting almost entirely of 

 mice and snakes among which it cre- 

 ates great havoc. This Hawk builds 

 its nest in beech trees almost without 

 exception. I have taken several sets 

 of eggs varying greatly in markings. 

 The first set was_ ot three taken Apr. 

 28, 1896, with distinct blotches of brown 

 on two of the eggs, the third being 

 scai'cely marked. Another set taken 

 on the second of the next March, were 

 also well marked and were perfectly 

 fresh. 



May 24, 1897, I took a set of five high- 



ly incubated from a nest CO feet up in a 

 maple. This is the only set, so far, 

 that I have taken from any ti'ee, ex- 

 cept beech. Some of the eggs are 

 heavily marked, the small ends of two 

 of them being almost uniform brown. 

 Another set of four on the 28th of the 

 same month had two eggs without a 

 distinct blotch, the other two are only 

 slightly incubated. But for Red-should- 

 ereds a set of four taken on the 12th of 

 last April surpasses them all. They 

 are nearly uniform in size, 1.73x2.13 

 and of a very light background heavily 

 blotched with dark brown. The sur- 

 faces of two of them seeming to be half 

 brown, so thickly are they marked. 

 The last set taken April 30th contained 

 four highly incubated eggs, four of 

 which ai"e heavily marked, the fifth 

 having no distinct markings. 



The Red- tail (Buteo borealis) is an- 

 other large Hawk which seems to be 

 quite plentiful. Its favorite position is 

 setting on a dead tree in the edge of the 

 woods or in a field, watching for mice, 

 which form a large part of their diet. 

 The nest is built of sticks and bark, is 

 of a large size and placed in any large 

 tree, generally in an elm .or beech. 

 The eggs, two or three in number, have 

 a whitish background with markings 

 of brown and lilac. A set of two taken 

 April 23, 1897, measure 1.72x2 35 and 

 1.80x2.40 respectively. 



Cooper's Hawk {Accipkr cooperi). 

 This destructive Hawk is well repre- 

 sented in numbers, and many are the 

 geese, chickens and small rodents that 

 fall a victim to his dexterity. A set 

 taken May 7, 1897, contains four blueish 

 eggs: one of them being blotched with 

 lilac on smaller end. 



I have also found Svvainson's Broad- 

 winged and American Sparrow Hawk 

 breeding here, while I shot a female 

 American Rough-leg while collecting 

 Hawk's eggs in April. 



The American Osprey occurs along 

 the Lake shore, and in fall and spring 



