862 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
tain swamps, brooks, or ponds. It is placed next to the trunk 
of a pine, or sometimes an oak, from fifteen to seventy-five feet. 
above the ground. It is seldom built in a young tree, or in 
one at all isolated, and is rarely concealed by surrounding foli- 
-age. Near Boston it is finished between the first week and 
last day of April, and two, three, or four eggs, are then laid. 
These often exhibit great variation, even when taken from the 
same nest. Though varying in size and shape, some being 
elongated, or somewhat pointed at the smaller end, they aver- 
age about 2:20 X 1°70.of an inch. From a series in my cabi- 
net, recently collected near Boston, the following descriptions 
are taken. (1) White, evenly blotched and spotted with lilac. 
(2) White, evenly but coarsely marked with a pretty reddish 
brown. (8) White, with a few thin and vague markings of 
chocolate. (4) Dirty white, not appreciably marked. (5) 
Dirty white, with a very few fine scrawls at the smaller end. 
(6) Dirty white, blotched at the smaller end with umber. (7) 
Dirty white, clouded at the smaller end with several shades of 
brown. (8) Dirty white, fadedly. blotched, chiefly at the 
smaller end. (9) Impure white, blotched with faint reddish 
brown chiefly at the smaller end, and with a few dark mark- 
ings. (10) Dirty white, faintly blotched all over, but with a 
few chocolate spots. (11) Dirty white, blotched faintly with 
purplish and reddish brown, but with dark blotches on the 
crown. (12) Impure white, with a ring of reddish brown 
blotches about the crown. Some specimens have reddish or 
buffy ground-colors, and others are marked but little and 
faintly, or with a few isolated blotches. 
There is no salient point of difference between these eggs 
and those of the ‘* Red-tail,” of which several are now before 
me. 
(c). The Red-shouldered Buzzards, so far as I have ob- 
served, are the commonest hawks near Boston, where they are 
resident throughout the year. They breed from Florida nearly 
to Hudson’s Bay. Their range is therefore much less exten- 
sive thun that of the ‘“ Red-tails,” but their habits and man- 
ners are very similar. The following biography is applicable 
