Plate LIX. 



Fig. 2. BUTEO PENNSYLVANICUS-Broad-Winged Hawk. 



The Broad- winged Hawk is one of the rarest Hawks breeding in Ohio. It is not so very uncommon in 

 the winter, but as spring approaches it goes northward. In the northern section of the State it is of more 

 frequent occurrence, both during its migration and in the summer, than further south. 



It builds its nest in March or April, and rears but one brood during the year. 



LOCALITY: 



This Hawk is fond of damp retired woods and wooded swamps, and in some such locality it builds 

 its nest, choosing for the site a tall or medium-sized tree. 



POSITION : 



The nest is placed in a perpendicular or horizontal fork, or in a crotch formed by the main trunk 

 with one of its large horizontal branches. The site is between twenty and fifty feet from the ground. 



MATERIALS : 



Like the nest of many other Hawks, the nest of this species is composed of sticks, weed-stems, 

 grasses, and other vegetable substances for its foundation and superstructure, and similar but better 

 selected material for its lining. It is a little smaller than that of the Red-shouldered Hawk, with about 

 the same depth of cavity. 



EGGS: 



The complement of eggs consists of three or four, rarely five. They measure in long-diameter from 

 1.90 to 2.00, and in short-diameter from from 1.48 to 1.55. 



Dr. Brewer in " North American Birds" gives the following measurements: Average length 2.09 

 inches, average breadth 1.61 inches. Smallest egg, 1.50x1.94 inches; largest egg, 1.72x2.11 inches. 

 The ground-color of the shell varies from dirty white to brownish. The markings consist of clouds, 

 blotches, spots, and speckles of yellowish-brown or reddish-brown of various shades. Four eggs before me 

 are marked, and measure as follows: No. 1. Size, 1.53 x 1.90. Ground-color soiled white. At the base 

 are a few small blotches and speckles of Vandyke Brown, the remainder of the shell is unmarked except 

 by cloudings of dirt and a few fine speckles of yellowish-brown. No. 2. Size, 1.55 x 1.97. Ground- 

 color soiled white. Surface marks consist of a few irregular blotches and groups of small spots of a dark 

 shade of reddish-brown arranged in a circle about the base, and a few speckles of the same color scattered 

 from point to base. Deep shell-marks are large and numerous, almost the entire shell being clouded by 

 faint neutral tint blotches varying in size from a silver dime to an eighth of an inch in diameter. They 

 have faded and irregular outlines, and are often confluent. The surface marks are generally superimposed 



213 



