242 



THu CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



The approach of the bird is silent, the first 

 notice being the whirr of its wings as it turns 

 upward after its downward headlong flight. 

 Then both birds will rise, screaming above 

 the tree tops and circle around for some time. 

 Frequently the sitting bird will silently leave 

 the nest before it can be shot at, and in a few 

 minutes return with its mate when both will 

 make a great noise. Sometimes a hawk will 

 sit very close not leaving the nest . until one 

 strikes the tree for some time with a large 

 stick or club. I have no knowledge that 

 hawks of any kind build entire nests of their 

 own. All those noticed by me were old crow's 

 nests repaired. Sparrow Hawks lay in the 

 holes of Golden-winged Woodpeckers and 

 other hollows in trees. A Red-shouldered 

 Hawk will add a lot of sticks to a crow's nest 

 filling the centre with moss, grass, leaves, 

 bark strips and sometimes old rags and paper. 

 In one nest I found a turf or sod with long 

 grass on it which altogether would weigh 

 several pounds. Sometimes, I find dead mice in 

 the nest, and on one occasion, a live frog which 

 the hawk had brought for its mate. The nest 

 is bulky being usually about a foot deep 

 and eighteen inches in diameter, inside there 

 is only a slight hollow just deep enough to 

 prevent the eggs from rolling out. Three is 

 the usual number of eggs laid ; sometimes 

 two, and a set of four is a rare find. They 

 build wherever crows nest at all elevations. 

 The bighest nest I have taken was eighty- 

 seven feet ; the lowest twenty-two feet, the 

 latter was in a small birch tree and I took 

 five crow's eggs from it the year before. 

 Climbing for nests is sometimes very danger- 

 ous, the trees being often from three to four 

 feet in diameter, hut I have succeeded in 

 reaching eveiy hawk's nest I have yet found. 

 The eggs of this hawk vary very much, both 

 in size and colour. They are generally white 

 or creamy, dotted, blotched, or splashed with 

 umber and reddish brown. Occasionally one 

 of the eggs in a set is pure white. I generally 

 find them fresh from the 11th to the 25th of 

 April, and when robbed, they will repair 

 another nest not far from the first one and lay 

 again in about three weeks, but the eggs of 

 this nest are rarely more than two, and I have 

 not known them to lay a third time during 

 the season. Like most other hawks, when 

 not disturbed, they will bred year after year 

 in the same nest. The food of this hawk 

 consist of frogs, snakes and small quadrupeds. 

 I have not known them to attack poultry or 



birds of any kind. They are amongst the last 

 migrants in autumn, though once in a while, 

 one may be seen in mid-winter. These are 

 some of my own observations. I could copy 

 considerable about hawks out of works on 

 ornithology to which I have access, but prefer 

 to give my personal experience. 



John A. Morden. 

 Hyde Park, Ont. 



THE " SAMSON FOX." 



Four or five years ago, my dogs killed 

 a fox near St. Luc, St. Johns' Co., Que, 

 whose fur was short, dull colored, a dirty 

 reddish white, and having the singy appearance 

 you mention. (May number.) The farmer 

 with whom I was hunting, called this a " Sam- 

 son Fox," but did not know why it was so 

 called ; he supposed it to be an ordinal"} Red 

 Fox " out of condition ;" it had every appear- 

 ance of being such. 



W. H. R. 



THE PASSENGER 1'IGEON. 



Sir, — In reply to Mr. LeMoine's query in 

 your May number regarding the nesting of the 

 Passenger Pigeon at Chateauguay Four 

 Corners, State of New York, up to 185b, 

 I beg to say that in the summer o 1861 

 or 1868 I was spending a few days at a place 

 cabed Altona, on the Ogdensburg and Platts- 

 burg Railway. Pigeons were dying over this 

 place in immense numbers. Before sunrise 

 hundreds of flocks of female birds would com- 

 mence dying north to feed and continued 

 to do so for an hour or two : by that time they 

 would begin to fly south again ; the female 

 birds were then succeeded by the males. 

 Towards eight or nine o'clock, a.m., the flight 

 had entirely ceased. As it was evident these 

 pigeons were nesting somewhere south of 

 Altona, I decided to find the locality it pos- 

 sible. Having secured the services of a farmer 

 residing in the vicinity, to act as guide, I set] 

 out early one morning, and, by following the 

 direction in which the returning birds were 

 flying — after a toilsome march through the 

 woods of some five or six miles — finally came 

 upon the nesting ground and truly my exertions 

 were well repaid. Long before reaching the 

 first of the ne^ts, the noise made by the birds 

 cooing, chattering and fluttering about, could 

 be distinctly heard. The nests were built in 

 a heavy hardwood bush, eacb tree having from 



