CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 235 



" In general appearance this nest is much like that of the red- 

 tail, but the position is different, being usually less elevated. I 

 have seen many that I could not reach from the ground. The 

 favourite sites are the crown of a dense clump of willows, or the 

 highest fork of a low scrub oak ; occasionally I have observed the 

 nest at a height of 20 or even 30 feet, in some poplar, but this is 

 unusual. 



" The eggs are commonly three but sometimes four in number ; 

 they are more or less spherical and vary much in colour. The 

 young, when hatched, are the purest and downiest looking of 

 innocents, and it is only on examination of the tiny though promis- 

 ing beak and claws that one can credit that little snowball with the 

 makings of a ruthless and bloodthirsty marauder." 



First seen on April 4th, 1892, at Indian Head, Assa. ; common 

 by the i6th. May 25th found a nest with one egg, nest in live 

 poplar, made of sticks, lined with a few twigs from the living 

 poplar trees with the leaves on. All the nests that I saw later 

 were built in the same way and all contained the green twigs and 

 leaves. They invariably repair the old nests and only one new 

 nest was seen during the season. Nests contained 2-4 eggs. 

 Farther west they build their nests chiefly in clumps of willow 

 along the banks of streams and the edges of sloughs and scarcely 

 ever in thick woods. Where there are no willows or trees they 

 will build their nest in a clump of rose bushes or upon a "cut bank " 

 (a cliff of earth by a stream). Their principal food is gophers 

 and mice, of which they kill a great number. They are a great 

 benefit to the farmer but he does not seem 'to know it, for in 

 southwestern Manitoba last autumn (1891) I counted no less than 

 nine dead buzzards along a trail in less than half a mile. Found 

 two nests in trees at Crane Lake, Assa., in June, 1894. The 

 nests were built of sticks and lined with dried grass. One had 

 two eggs, the other three. I shot one of the old birds as it came 

 from the nest and it proved to be a male showing that both 

 took turns at the nest. This species is a very late breeder and 

 only in one case did I find eggs before the first of June. {Spread- 

 borough.) 



The writer has taken many nests of this species in Assiniboia 

 and has found that a tree is preferred to nest in but that they 

 change the site to agree with changed conditions. Where oak 

 scrub exists they prefer oak, farther west poplar (Populus 

 tremulaides) and on treeless plains they descend to low bushes and 

 2 



