I16 
THE NIDOLOGIST 
and the alternative shadows made by the 
setting sun causes the woods to glorify in 
the fading light. All is holy and quiet; 
night is all but here; and the birds hymn 
the dying day. Then it is the Wood 
Thrush’s wavering, tremulous notes, tinged 
with melancholy, to suit the hour, bear 
good-bye to the day and welcome the 
evening shades. 
Upon the woods being drained in my 
locality and the favorite places being de- 
stroyed this bird is growing rarer every 
year here except in retired portions. Oc- 
casionally I see one in early spring around 
amid the shrubbery in the city. Arriving 
about the middle of April, they nest by the 
2oth or 25th of May, when full sets of their 
eggs can be taken. Early in October they 
leave for their Central American home. 
Insects and berries are their principal diet. 
B. Hal SWALEs, 
Detroit, Mich, 
ne 
The Florida Red-shouldered Hawk. 
(Buteo lineatus allent. ) 
N the vicinity of Waco, McLennan 
| county, Texas, this form of Buzeo linea- 
tus is the most abundant bird of its 
genus that occurs. During the breeding 
season tkese Hawks are principally ob- 
served in the bottom-lands in the vicinity 
of the rivers and streams, but during the 
winter months they are quite common on 
the prairies, which they haunt in quest of 
food. Their priucipal food during the 
period of reproduction consists of such 
species of small birds, mammals, reptiles 
and batrachians as are found in their breed- 
ing haunts; while the stomachs of speci- 
mens shot on the prairie during the winter 
contained the remains of small mice 
(species of Sztomys and Ochetodon) and 
Sparrows and other small birds. During 
tne fall months, while on the grassy flats, 
engaged in jotting down bird arrivals, I 
observed many of these Hawks, either 
circling high in the air or at rest on some 
lonely elin or mesquite tree, gazing with 
watchful eyes at the flocks of Arengillida@ 
which are found here at this time of the 
year. In this locality the breeding season 
of this species extends trom the last of 
February to about the lest of May. ‘To 
some observers, among them Mr. Atkin- 
son of Dime Box, Texas, whose notes I 
have read in the June-July, ’94, NipotLo- 
GIST, this may seem a rather broad asser- 
tion, as the latter gentleman mentions that 
in his section eggs may be found as early 
as March 5 and as late as the middle of 
March. ‘This year the first eggs taken were 
a set of three, collected on March 24. The 
bird was incubating and the contents of 
the eggs were slightly tinged with btood. 
On May 5 the last set of the season, con- 
sisting of two eggs, were almost fresh. On 
May 19 4 pair of the birds were discovered 
flying over a nest situated in a fork ofa tall 
pin-oak tree. On climbing to this nest it 
was found to beempty, but had been newly 
lined and partly filled with fresh green elm 
leaves, It was visited again a week later, 
but was still empty and the birds had dis- 
appeared. Some observers mention this 
Red-shouldered Hawk as being pugnacious 
towards persons disturbing or despoiling 
their nests, but my observations do not 
coincide with this. At the nest discovered 
on March 24, on our approach the female 
silently slipped off, circled around once, 
enabling me to identify her, and disap- 
peared in the deeper woods and was not 
seen again. On April 7 a set of two fresh 
eggs was taken from a nest in a tall pecan 
tree. Both birds were present. and after 
circling around my companion, Mr. Chas. 
B. Pearre, who had climbed for the nest, for 
a few moments,they disappeared; but after 
we had left, and were yet within a hundred 
yards of the tree, they returned. One of 
the birds, the female, I think, then flew to 
a branch of the tree overlooking the nest, 
while its mate perched on a pin-oak near 
by. Ata nest discovered May 5, the birds 
were not seen until the eggs were taken, 
when they made their appearance, uttered 
several loud cries, and flew in circles 
around the tree containing the nest. On 
April 15 one of several nests examined 
contained three well-fledged young. The 
parents were very demoustrative in their 
actions, but not at all pugnacious. The 
birds were present at the nest in most in- 
stances, often betraying their location. 
Two, three, and rarely four ezgs compose 
the nest complement, two being the more 
common number in this locality. The 
ground color of the eggs is dull-white or 
bluish-white,and varies from almost wholly 
unmarked specimens to those heavily 
blotehed with umber, rusty and reddish- 
brown, and red. A set of three eggsin the 
collection of my friend, J. W. Mann, Jr., 
present quite a contrast. Egg (@) has a 
dul! white ground, and is heavily blotched 
