214 NESTS AND EGOS OF 



of the adult bird is coal-black; tail-coyerts narrowly tipped with white; tail black, 

 the tip and base white, and crossed at about the middle by a broad band of white. 

 Dr. Edgar A. Mearns met with this Hawk in the valley ,of the Rio Verde, 

 Arizona, in 1884-5. The birds were present throughout the summer months, but 

 departed in autumn; they were extremely shy and were usually found hidden in the 

 dense foliage of cottonwoods near water, in some low situation. Their flight he 

 describes as swift and powerful. Occasionally one was seen eating a fish upon the 

 sandy margin of the tiver. Their loudly whistled cry was rendered with great 

 power, and different from that of any bird of prey with which he was acquainted. 

 A nest was found built in a cottonwood tree June 19. This had evidently been the 

 birthplace of many generations of these Hawks, for it measured four feet in depth 

 by two feet in width. It was lined with a layer of cottonwood leaves, several inches 

 deep, was very slightly concave, and composed of large sticks, much decayed below, 

 showing that they had been in position for a number of years. The nest was about 

 thirty feet from the ground and contained a half-grown nestling. Upon approaching 

 the nest the Hawk exhibited much uneasiness and screamed lustily. A fully identi- 

 fied egg of this species, taken by Dr. Mearns on May 20, 1887, as described by the 

 late Major Bendire, is oval in shape, dull white in color, and irregularly blotcheu, 

 principally about the larger end, with small markings of different shades of brown. 

 It measures 2.22x1.81 inches. This egg is figured on Plate 8, Fig. 8, of Maj. Bendire'a 

 great work. Vol. I. 



346. MEXICAN GOSHAWK. Asturina ] plaffiata Schlegel. Geog. Dlst.— 

 Southern border of the United States, south wardj to Panama; accidental In Southern 

 Illinois. 



The late Maj. Charles B. Bendire states thatlhis, one of the handsomest of our 

 Raptor's, is not an uncommon summer resident of the southern portions of Arizona. 

 The bird's peculiar call-notes he describes as resembling the piping of the Long- 

 billed Curlew; their flight exceedingly graceful and swift, resembling in many re- 

 spects that of the American Goshawk. They seem to prefer more open country than 

 the latter species. In the timber bordering Rillitto creek, near Tucson, Maj. Bendire 

 found this Hawk breeding in 1872; on the dates May 17, June 6 and 19, and June 20, 

 nests were found containing two and three eggs each. The nests were placed in 

 cottonwood trees, fifty and seventy-five feet from the ground; one found May 17, 

 located in the topmost branches of a cottonwood was not a very substantial struc- 

 ture; a shallow platform composed principally of small cottonwood twigs, a number 

 of them broken off green by the birds themselves. The birds were seen, while 

 flying, to grasp at a suitable twig with the talons, usually succeeding in breaking it 

 off at the first trial. The nest was lined with dry cottonwood leaves and the tops 

 of the willows, the latter taken while yet green. Major Bendire describes the eggs as 

 white or pale bluish-white, unspotted, but always more or less stained with yellow- 

 ish matter hard to clean off; size 2.00x1.60.* A set of two eggs, taken in Arizona, 

 May 23, 1884, by Mr. P. Stephens, is in the collection of the late Captain B. P. Goss. 

 The nest from which these were taken was in a cottonwood tree, seventy-five feet 

 from the ground; it was made of cottonwood and willow twigs, mostly green, lined 



* OrnitfioloRlst and Oologist. Vol. VI, pp. 87-R8, 



