36 THE NIDOLOGIST 
finally reached. It was located in a tall elm 
tree which stood alone ina field at a dis- 
tance of 200 yards from the before men- 
tioned strip of woodland. In order to visit 
this, we were obliged to alight from our 
buggy and hitch the horse, as an unbroken 
stretch of barb-wire fence: prevented our 
advance. 
We had soon succeeded in crawling 
through this obstruction, and struck out 
across the small stretch of prairie interven- 
ing between us and the tree. As it was now 
getting warmer, at every step we started up 
lizards, principally sand swifts ( Cxemidopho- 
rus gularis) and horned “‘toads’’ (Phryno- 
soma). On nearing the tree, I observed the 
foliage to be so thick that I was unable to 
distinguish the outlines of the nest until I 
was within a few yards of it. 
Just as I was preparing to climb, my 
companion attracted my attention by shout- 
ing, ‘‘There are our Eagles,”’ and glancing 
upward I observed a pair of large birds fly- 
ing rather hurriedly away over the trees. 
This was apparently the same pair which 
had reared two young in the nest last 
season, but on ascending to it, I found it to 
be empty. The nest was a clumsily shaped 
though firm and well-made structure, with 
only a very slight depression in the top. The 
material used was thick stalks of broom- 
weed, which were cemented together, pro- 
bably by the excrement of the young birds 
that had been reared in itin past years. The 
diameter outside was 24 in., the depth, 
almost 26. After examining this nest, we 
concluded to strike across the woods in quest 
of others. We made a break through the 
dense masses of vines and bushes, pushing 
them aside, and slowly made our way to the 
center of the strip, starting up rabbbits, 
large tree lizzards (Sceloporns floridanus) 
and, to my companions horror, an occas- 
ional snake. The ophidiaus met with here 
were specimens of a green snake (Opheodrys 
aestivus), a pilot snake (Coluber spiloides), 
and a coachwhip snake, probably a variety 
of the Lascanion fragelliforme of Cope. Very 
few prairie birds were met with here, but 
other small species replaced them, among 
these being the Warbling Vireo, Long- 
tailed Chicadee, Wood Pewce and many 
others. 
Finally we reached an open space and 
after some few minutes search, discovereda 
second Caracara’s nest, which, however, 
proved to be an old one which had probably 
not been in use for several seasons. After 
leaving this, our attention was again 
attracted by the same pair of Eagles, which 
were now flying over us, heading in the 
direction of the elm tree containing the nest 
first examined. On our careful scanning 
the trees in the vicinity, we soon discovered 
the new domicile of these birds. This had 
been newly built and was composed of 
pieces of rattan vine and a few twigs, and 
was situated in the triple fork ofa slender 
ash tree, at an elevation of 20 feet. My 
only conjecture as to the reason these Car- 
acaras had for desertiug their ald and build- 
iug a new nest, is, perhaps in 1894, after 
Mann had examined the old nest containing 
the two young, other parties may have dis-. 
turbed it or carried the young birds away. 
Three lusty young, about two weeks old, I 
judged, were the contents of this new nest. 
The little creatures looked extremely odd, 
with their heavy beaks and claws, which 
looked very mnch out of proportion to their 
size. They were covered with both grayish 
and yellowish down with the exception of 
the whole occupit, side of face encircling 
the eyes and the tips of the wings, which 
were black. They offered no serious objec- 
tions to being handled, but judging from 
their actions they probably would have pre- 
ferred being fed to undergoing a critical 
examination at our hands. The tree con- 
taining the nest was covered with a tangled 
mass of mustang grape-vines. On leaving 
the young Caracaras we glanced around in 
h_pes of seeing the parent birds, which we 
soon discovered perched at the extreme top 
of the lone elm tree. We then made our 
way out of the woods, and crossed the field 
to where our horse was hitched, and although 
we spent some time in resting,as I was badly 
shaken up by a fall that I had sustained on 
account of a broken vine, the old birds were 
in the tree-top as long as we were in sight, 
and until we had driven away and they 
were lost to view. These Eagles are by far 
the most timid of raptorial birds, and I can- 
not recall an instance during the breeding 
season of one allowing a near approach, 
always deserting their nest or young when 
one is yet some distance away from their 
nests. 
We now drove away to another locality, 
or rather to another section of the bed of 
the stream, which was quite dry at this 
date, although this was the first time it had . 
ever been known to be so. In the woods 
here we found Vultures breeding, and saw 
Fa) 
many flocks of these birds, among ~them 
