80 



THE OOLOGIST 



so, and in two weeks made $300 above 

 expenses and besides a man offered 

 him $500 for it. Someone told him 

 that the last one that was captured 

 came from Scotland, and sold for 

 $1500, so he is holding it a while long- 

 er. Harry has gone to Baltimore. 



The eagle is thirty-five inches long, 

 and measures six feet ten inches from 

 tip to tip of its wings. It was first 

 seen in Mr. Caldwell's garden on Sun- 

 day evening. The next morning Harry 

 took his gun and went to look for it. 

 He shot at it three times, but fortun- 

 ately only stunned it, and with the as- 

 sistance of two men, bound it and 

 carried it home. 



My First Set of Red-Shouldered 

 Hawk's Eggs. 



It is with cherished memory that I 

 recall the taking of my first set of Red 

 Shouldered Hawk's eggs. It was when 

 I was a young lad and spent every 

 moment of my spare time roaming 

 about the fields, being interested in 

 nature in general. Although I often 

 wandered quite a distance from home, 

 in the open fields, I did not venture 

 far into the woods. However, one 

 bright day in the latter part of April 

 I took upon myself the responsibility 

 of going into the woods, without the 

 guidance of my older brother, whom I 

 had accompanied on a few trips for 

 the purpose of setting traps and etc. 

 After wandering some little distance 

 in the woods, taking care to mark my 

 way sufficiently to guide me on my 

 return, I by chance sighted a bulky 

 nest about twenty-five feet up in a 

 large chestnut tree. Upon approach- 

 ing it I was greeted with a sharp "kee- 

 yook' as a huge Hawk glided rapidly 

 away. As I recall it the bird appeared 

 to me as large as an Osprey would 

 now, rather a magnified imagination 

 apparent I think, in most youths. You 

 can imagine how my heart fluttered 

 and the great desire I had of secur- 

 ing the eggs which would be as golden 

 treasures in my collection. I made 

 several unsuccessful attempts to climb 



the tree but timidity coupled with my 

 inability to climb well prevented me 

 from reaching the nest and had 

 it not been for my oldest 

 brother, I would not have procured 

 climb in all the woods, and loaded him 

 that it was the most difficult tree to 

 climb all the woods, and loaded him 

 down with straps and ropes, we made 

 our way back and were soon beneath 

 the tree. To my great surprise he 

 very easily climbed the mighty tree 

 and by means of a pail attached to a 

 string lowered the three eggs. They 

 were very much incubated and the 

 markings were few and faded, but they 

 were cherished by me, and it is with 

 fond reminiscence that I recall the in- 

 cident. 



Since that time I have examined 

 dozens of nests of this specie of Hawk, 

 many nests having only two eggs, a 

 few four but the majority contained 

 three. The markings range from 

 heavily blotched to very light and 

 very rarely a set will be almost or 

 wholly unmarked. Freak eggs are 

 sometimes found but only one such 

 set have I had the good fortune to 

 find. It contained four eggs, one be- 

 ing about one-half normal size. Most 

 all kinds of trees were used to nest 

 in, perhaps more often chestnuts. I 

 have found a nest as low as twelve 

 feet and one as high as seventy-two 

 but the average height was about 

 thirty feet. The nests were made of 

 sticks, lined with dry leaves, shreds 

 of cedar bark or green cedar and hem- 

 lock boughs and usually placed in a 

 crotch. I have observed that the birds 

 frequently adorn their nests outside 

 and in with fluffy downy feathers 

 plucked from their own bodies; a pe- 

 culiar custom which for no perceiv- 

 able reason, I believe is practiced by 

 nearly all variety of Hawks. The birds 

 are not very sociable in the nesting 

 season and I find that seldom more 



