NESTLESS BIRDS AND ANNEXERS 49 



Turkey Vulture (an American species) has been 

 known to make use of an old nest of a Heron or a 

 Hawk. Again, Cooper's Hawk (another New World 

 species) sometimes makes a nest for itself, but 

 more generally selects the deserted home of a Crow, 

 a Hawk, or a squirrel. The Short-tailed Hawk (the 

 Buteo brachyurus of Vieillot) is another instance. 

 Among the Owls we have many instances of this 

 annexing habit. In a great many cases these birds 

 rear their young in their usual day retreat or 

 roosting place, making little or no nest. This 

 retreat may sometimes be the deserted nest of 

 another bird; possibly the situation is chosen for 

 the purpose of incubation only. Thus the Tawny 

 Owl not unfrequently breeds in an old nest of a 

 Hawk, Magpie, or Crow ; the Long-eared Owl almost 

 invariably selects a deserted nest of a IVIagpie, Crow, 

 Ring Dove, or Heron ; Tengmalm's Owl as frequently 

 annexes the nest hole made by a Black Woodpecker, 

 as also does the Hawk Owl ; whilst the Eagle Owl 

 takes possession of the old home of an Eagle or 

 some other large bird. The American Barred Owl 

 similarly secures the old nest of a Crow or Hawk 

 for its procreant cradle ; whilst its relation, the Saw- 

 whet Owl of the same region, chooses a squirrel's 

 drey or more frequently the deserted hole of a 

 Woodpecker, as also does the Screech Owl in the 

 same locality. A very remarkable exception of an 

 annexing species occurring in a group which follows 



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