THE OOLOGIST. 



43 



ing up data in my note books and I 

 find several instances of nests of Red- 

 tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks in 

 which green leaves were used, as fol- 

 lows: 



Red-tailed Hawk, April 26, 1896. In- 

 cubation advanced. Nest contained 

 some sticks on which were small green 

 leaves. 



Red-shouldered Hawk, May 3, 1896. 

 Incubation one-third. Nest of sticks 

 lined with moss, maple twigs on which 

 were small green leaves, strips of bark 

 and lots of tent caterpillar's nests. 



Red-shouldered Hawk, May 12, 1896. 

 Incubation fresh. Nest lined with 

 strips of bark, dead and green leaves, 

 a small piece of moss and several cat- 

 erpillar's nests. 



Red-tailed Hawk, Apr. 24, 1898. In- 

 cubation fresh. Nest contained green 

 maple blossoms. 



Red-tailed Hawk, May 22, 1898. 

 Eggs addled. Nest contained a lot of 

 green leaves. 



Red-shouldered Hawk, Apr. 23, 1899. 

 Incubation fresh. Nest lined with 

 rootlets, fine bark strips, birch bark 

 and a few dried green leaves. 



Red-shouldered Hawk, Apr. 23, 1899. 

 Incubation, small embryos. Nest, 

 lined with dead leaves, bark strips, 

 some green moss and a green fern. 



Red-shouldered Hawk, May 7, 1899. 

 Incubation two-thirds. Nest contain- 

 ed green leaves. 



Red-shouldered Hawk, May 12, 1899. 

 Incubation, small embryos. Nest, 

 lined with pine leaves, bark strips, 

 some broad grass, a few green leaves, 

 an old Vireos nest and some down 

 from the bird's breast. 



Red-tailed Hawk, Apr. 28, 1901. 

 Incubation, large embryos. Nest 

 lined with bark strips and a few corn 

 husks. A few evergreens were hang- 

 ing from the edge of the nest and some 

 of the twigs in the nest had green 

 blossoms on them. 



In nearly all cases the green leaves 



were placed around the rim of the nest 

 seemingly as a decoration. 



Nearly all Red-shouldered Hawks in 

 this locality use lots of the old nests 

 of the tent caterpillar to decorate their 

 nests with also an occasional sprig of 

 pine or hemlock with the green leaves 

 on. Around Penn Yan the evergreens 

 are seldom used, although there are 

 evergreen trees in nearly every wood, 

 but at Branchport, only 8 miles from 

 Penn Yan, nearly every nest contains 

 evergreens. 



The Red-tailed Hawk uses an abun- 

 dance of evergreens in nearly every 

 nest. 



The Red-shoulder uses quite a varie- 

 ty of nesting material among which I 

 have found corn in the ear, corn cobs, 

 corn husks, tissue paper, Baltimore 

 Orioles, Wood Pewees and Red-eyed 

 Vireo's nests, straw, mullen leaves 

 and binding twine. 



Verdi Burtch, 

 Branchport, N. Y. 



More Green Leaves in Nests. 



Mr. Bowles' description of his 

 Broad-winged Hawk's nest with green 

 leaves in October "Oologist" makes 

 an interesting addition to Mr. Short's 

 list of one, (Mississippi Kite) but 

 does not by any means complete the 

 list. 



I have found green leaves in nests of 

 Western Red-tail and in Swainson and 

 Red-bellied Hawks. In the cases of 

 the first two it is so rare as to be- re- 

 markable and can only be considered 

 accidental or freakish, but with the 

 Red-bellied Hawk it is another story 

 and I have found the nest that does 

 not contain a greater or less quantity 

 to be the exception. My records show 

 scarcely a nest where they were not 

 found. 



Out of seven nests of the species tak- 

 en by me last season, green leaves 

 were in all but one. This contained 



