128 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



always to be aware of my presence and they never let me see 'them in 

 on near the nest. When ten days had passed and I still saw no sign of 

 the birds. I determined to climb the tree and get, if possible, a picture 

 of the nest' and eggs. And right here, let me add, my troubles begun. 

 The tree was three feet and a half through at the ground and the 

 branches were few and far between for some distance up. j Besides this, 

 my camera and all the accessories made a burden that didn't help me 

 any. 



Though I approached the tree with the utmost caution, the mother bird 

 heard me and slipped off the nest and away before I was hardly in sight. 

 After much trouble with the camera I reached the live limbs above the 

 lower dead ones and from there the way was easier. When I was with- 

 in twenty feet of the nest, a crow, one of that noisy crowd that was 

 nesting in the pines nearby, saw me and began to caw with all his 

 might. Soon it was joined by another and soon the woods and air 

 seemed full of crows, — indeed I begun to think that the crows had some 

 claim on the nest above after all and that the hawks were fooling us. 

 Even now I cannot understand why the crows were so interested, — it 

 surely was not because the hawk is a particular friend of the crows, for 

 they take delight in tormenting him whenever they can. But as I neared 

 the nest the crows begun to disappear and soon there was not one in 

 sight. The size of the nest surprised me, indeed I could get around it 

 on one side only, the side on which the trunk of the tree stood. Some 

 of the sticks were fully a yard long, and of a weight that seemed incred- 

 ible. Almost half a cartload of sticks and leaves were gathered there, 

 and 'tis well for the owners that the branches under it were strong, else 

 the whole would long ago have fallen to the ground. You may be sure 

 that I was eager to look over its rim and see what was in it, for I had 

 always longed to see a real, live hawk's nest. And I saw one this time 

 surely. Two large dirty white eggs rested there as peacefully as. 



