62 THE NIDOLOGIST 
flying up and down the creeks. They are 
quiet at this time, scarcely ever uttering a 
screech unless they come together. In 
early march they begin to look for a nest, 
and if they have raised a brood the previous 
season the same nest is almost invariably 
used. The first pair have changed but 
four times since I first found them and at 
present have two good nests, one of which 
has been used every year since 1892. ‘The 
other pair has three good nests and use one 
of them each 
season. They 
hatched for four 
successive years, 
using the same 
nest each season, 
but it fell to 
pieces in 1892 and 
there built one 
near by. I se- 
cured the set from 
this nest, and 
another was built 
in which they 
hatched a brood. 
I collected a set 
from this nest in Walter E. Bryant, President 
‘93, and they 
built a third, all 
three of which 
still remain, one 
being used every 
year. The nests 
are within view 
of a much trav- 
elled road. 
‘“A fter they de- 
cide on a _ nest 
there is but little 
to be done to it. 
It is lined (almost 
invatiably with 
green leaves) and 
is then ready for 
the eggs. From 
two to four eggs 
are laid, and incubation apparently com- 
mences with the first egg, as I found the 
bird setting on an incomplete set in the 
middle of the day. The nest is unlike most 
of the other large Hawks, being composed 
almost entirely of moss, with but very few 
sticks, which forms a compact body about 
17 to 24 inches across and 6 inches in 
depth, the nest proper being about 14 
inches in diameter, by about 3% inches in 
depth. They are usually situated about 
Chester Barlow, 
Secretary 
Officers of the Cooper Ornithological Club, 1896 
forty to sixty feet up, and either in a hori- © 
zontal or upright crotch. The birds are 
close sitters and act very much like the 
Western Horned Owl when on the nest. 
When the eggs are incubated they often 
remain on the nest, while you may throw 
sticks or pound on the tree. I have sev- 
eral times got over half way up to the nest 
before they would fly from the same. 
Sometimes the bird will commence screech- 
ing as soon as it leaves the nest and will 
soon be joined by 
its mate, and will 
keep up the noise 
until you leave 
the locality. 
Often, they will 
stay in trees near 
by. and again 
will fly in circles 
overhead, but oc- 
casionally they 
leave without a 
note and do not 
appear for quite a 
while. One in- 
stance I remem- 
ber where I had 
no sooner reached 
the ground when 
the bird was back 
on the nest. 
“When the 
first set is col- 
lected, they soon 
take possession of 
another nest and 
lay a second set. 
If this be taken 
they sometimes, 
(perhaps always) 
lay a third time. 
On March 25, I 
saw one standing 
up in a nest call- 
ing to another in 
a tree about one 
hundred yards away. On the 2oth, I col- 
lected two fresh eggs from the nest. They 
went to another nest and on the 4th of 
April it had one egg. I collected this nest 
on April 12 with three eggs, and in early 
May I saw the bird on the nest from which 
I took the two eggs on March 29. The 
period of incubation seems to be about four 
weeks, and during this time the other bird 
can be heard screeching in trees near 
by. Both birds assist in feeding the 
Wilfred H. Osgood, Vice-Pres. 
Roswell S. Wheeler, Treasurer 
