14 THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OOLOGISTS’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 
NESTING OF THE GOOPER’S HAWK. 
BY W. L. MARIS. 
After a long and tedious search for eggs in one of our largest Chester 
County woods, and almost despairing of finding anything worth while 
to carry home, I was suddenly startled by a loud, hoarse cry coming 
from above the tree-tops. A glance in the direction of the sound at 
once revealed to me its author, a female Cooper’s Hawk ( Accipiter 
Cooport) swiftly circling around. 
The uneasiness of the bird, and its cries, which soon attracted its 
mate, of course had some meaning to an Oologist, and a few minutes 
search in the direction from which came the sudden sounds, soon 
showed me a nest in a tall, slender tree. Without any parleying 
with the birds, which continued circling around, as to my right to so 
intrude upon their home, I immediately began the ascent. Soon, at 
the height of about thirty-five feet, I stood upon the first branch below 
the nest and looked down upon my first set of five eggs, of this, our 
most common “Chicken Hawk.’’ Nothing handsome, to be sure, 
being simply a pale bluish-white, with one spotted a little at the 
larger end ; but doubly prized, since they added another to the list of 
species whose eggs I have myself collected. 
As I examined the nest and wrapped the eggs in cotton, prepara- 
tory to descending, the birds, which had up to that time watched me — 
very closely, were now nowhere to be seen and did not appear again 
until I had left the immediate vicinity. The nest was somewhat 
bulky, seemingly a last years Crow’s, with a few additions. It was 
placed in the forks of four branches, and composed of twigs and hay, 
and lined with several rough pieces of bark. 
The statement made by Langille, that this bird builds “always very 
high,” was not sustained in the present case, as the nest was not above 
thirty-five feet from the ground. The eggs, which lie before me, 
measure respectively 1.86x1.61 ; 1.88x1.56; 1.89x1.50; 1.88x1.54 ; 
1.81x1.56 inches. 
