NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



207 





330. European Buzzard (From Brehm). 



quadrupeds, red squirrels, gophers and ground moles, and the remains of these 

 rodents may always be found in this bird's nest containing young. The Hawk will 

 always be found common where these small animals are most abundant. The nest 

 is placed in high trees in deep woods; it is large and bulky, though comparatively 

 shallow; made of sticks and twigs, mixed together with corn-husks, grass, moss, and 

 on the inside may be found a few feathers. Sometimes the deserted nest of a crow 

 or that of another hawk is fitted up and used. Mr. J. Parker Norris records a nest 

 occupied first by the Great Horned Owl and afterwards by the Red-tailed Hawk, each 

 year; the young owls leave the nest before the hawk is ready to occupy it. The num- 

 ber of eggs laid by this species is two or three, rarely four. Mr. Norris has a series ^ 

 of twenty-seven sets collected in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Mississippi, and 

 Texas; nineteen of these sets are of two eggs, six of three, and two of four.* The 

 time of depositing the eggs in the United States varies according to locality and 

 circumstances, but they are generally laid in March or April. Eggs are found in 

 different stages of incubation as late as the middle or latter part of May. A large 

 series of eggs present amazing differences in size and markings; their ground color 

 is white or bluish- white; some are entirely unmarked, while others are very heavily 

 blotched and splashed with many shades of red and brown; some are faintly marked 

 here and, there with a light purplish tint, and again the colorings may form an 



• For a detailed description of this series see Ornithologist and Oologrlst, Vol. XI, pp. 

 «7-69. Since the above was written Mr. Norris has Increased his series to thlrty-sIx sets. 



