THE OOLOGIST. 



151 



\vli(H-c to conu' for their 1'('(h1, luul were 

 :i great deal lamer 1 ha ii a great many 

 eliit'kens are. The hist winter we were 

 on the farm, we fed seA'enty-six. To 

 see, siieh a Hock eating tlieir breakfast, 

 and ]ie;ir their eliatter of deliglit, is a 

 h'ight never to be forgotten. 



I hav(! not the slightest douljt but 

 with patience and care they can )je do- 

 mesticated and taught to go in a lu)use 

 to r(jost. 



Miss L. I. C, 

 Richmond, Ind. 



Red-tailed Hawk. 



Buleo horerdis (G.iiel.) 



This bird is a- common resident 

 throughout tlu' year in tliis locality and 

 one of the most familiar sounds from 

 early Sj[)ring till midsummer, is its weird 

 cry as it sh>\vly sweeps in majestic cir- 

 cles high above tlie timliered t)ottom 

 iaiuls or grassy prairies in search of 

 their favorite food, timljer rats and 

 Held mice. This much slandered bird, 

 known in every state in the Union as 

 the "hen-hawk," is ruthlessly shot and 

 poisoned i)}" young and old whenever 

 the op[)()rtunity is presented, simply 

 Ijecause his smaller and much Ijoldt-r 

 cousin, Accipiter coopuri., makes his 

 n.ieal of poultry occasionally. I lia^'e 

 ))een a close observer of the local Fal- 

 conidfic for several years, and although 

 I ha^'e on several occasions seen the 

 Coopers Hawk dash into the l^arn-yai'd 

 and l)ear av;ay a chicken or young duck, 

 I haver yet seen Buieo take poultry of 

 any kind, :ilthough he may do this in 

 other localities. 



The Red-tailed Hawk is almost in- 

 variably seen in pairs throughout the 

 year. During the latter ])art of Fel)ru- 

 »ary and tii-st March they confine them- 

 selves almost exclusively to the vicinity 

 of the nest they had used the previous 

 year and by March 15 they have com- 

 pleted their set of eggs. If they are 

 left Tindisturbed the young will appear 



diu'ing the second week in April. They 

 are large, awkward, helpless things and 

 remain in the nest for four of five weeks, 

 or until they are full grown and full 

 fledged. Frcnu the time the young ap- 

 pear luitil they leave the nest, the ])ar- 

 ent birds are untiring hunters and tlu; 

 amount of rats mice, etc., that they 

 l)ring to feed the raA'enous crew is sur- 

 prising. 



Witliin a radius of a few miles of my 

 home are least seven nests of this l)ird 

 that have been occupied annually for 

 years, and apparently they ne\ er change 

 owners. Thi^y are invariably placed in 

 the highest trees in the immediate vicin- 

 ity, Avithout regards to variety, for I 

 have found them in oak, elm, bass and 

 sycamore, the distance from the ground 

 varying from 50 tf) bO feet. There is 

 very little variation in the build or ma- 

 terial used in these nests. They are 

 usually about 30 inches in diameter by 

 30 inches in depth on the outside anil 

 only slightly hollowed on top, compos- 

 ed of dead branches of the size of one's 

 thumb, interwoven with smaller twigs. 

 They are usually lined with shreds of 

 grapevine bark, but some have only a 

 few twigs of cedar, and others are par- 

 tially lined with cornhusks. 



Davie gives the number of eggs in 

 set as generally three, sometimes two 

 or foxu'. Size 2.40 by 2.00. Goss in his 

 work on Kansas Ijirds, gives luimber of 

 eggs in set three or four, size 2.30 by 

 1.84. My observations do not exactly 

 agree with those gentlemen, although 

 they were undoubtedly correct as far as 

 their localities are concerned. During 

 the last two seasons I have taken two 

 sets of Buteo bo7'eaUs, two sets of three 

 each and five sets of two. I also climb- 

 ed uj) and examined three i>ther nests 

 whose contents I did not distnrl). One 

 contained two eggs, tlu' otln'rs each 

 contained two young birds. From these 

 oljservations I have come to the c(jn- 

 clusion that in this locality two eggs is 

 the usual complement, occasionally 



