CATALOGUE OP CANADIAN BIRDS. 259 



pairs of birds occupying the same bluff, and the. nests are usually 

 a quarter of a mile from each other. This hawk has a habit of 

 lining its nest with green poplar leaves, and the eggs look very 

 pretty lying on the green leaves. It is a most useful bird to the 

 farmer, devouring an immense quantity of gophers and mice. 

 (Raine.) 



343. Broad-winged Hawk. 



Buteo platypterus (Vieill.) Faxon. 1901. 



This species probably occurs in Newfoundland. (Reeks.) It is 

 very rare in Nova Scotia. {Downs.) Rare summer resident in 

 Nova Scotia. {H. F. Tufts.) Not uncommon on Cape Breton 

 island. {Townsend.) A rather rare summer' resident in New 

 Brunswick, according to most observers, but Mr. W. H. Moore 

 reports it to be the most common hawk at Scotch Lake. It is in- 

 creasingly common as we go west in the valley of the St. Lawrence. 

 It is found all over Ontario and extends westward to Winnipeg, 

 where it breeds. As a straggler, it has been seen by Seton at 

 Carberry, in Manitoba. Sir John Richardson records its occur- 

 rence at Moose Factory, on James bay, and in June, 1896, Mr. Spread- 

 borough found it 'Common on Moose river, but none were seen 

 north of Moose Factory. This may be considered the northern 

 limit. 



Breeding Note?. — I observed three of these hawks, old and 

 young, 24th July, 1887, circling round above Mount Royal park, 

 Montreal, and heard them uttering a note very much like that of 

 a cowbird. I also saw a pair in the trees near the same place on 

 June 4th of the same year, and probably they bred there. I have 

 observed this species here from March 30th to October 19th. 

 {Wintle.) This species breeds about the middle of May, and seems 

 to prefer a hemlock or swamp ash tree to nest in. The nest is 

 placed about 20 feet or more from the ground, is composed of dry 

 sticks and lined with pieces of bark and dead leaves and is rather 

 larger than a crow's. The eggs, two or more in number, are of a 

 dirty yellowish or grayish white with blotches of reddish brown. 

 This species is not rare around Ottawa, Ont. (G. R. White.) The 

 writer shot a female of this species as she rose from her nest, which 

 was on a swamp ash in what was then Stewart's bush, within the 

 17}^ 



