BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 85 



Nest building generally occurs in March and lasts from eight to 

 fifteen days. The nest is built in the woods, commonly on a large oak 

 or hickory tree. A pair of these hawks resorted for five consecutive 

 years to a large oak tree ( Quervus tinctoria), for nesting purposes, in 

 a belt of timber adjacent to the far-famed Deborah's Rock, East Brad- 

 ford township. The nest is a rather bulky structure ; is made, exter- 

 nally, of sticks and twigs, some of the former being an inch in thick- 

 ness ; internally, it is lined with leaves and the inner layer of bark 

 usually from the oak and chestnut trees. This lining of bark is 

 frequently torn in shreds. 



Certain ornithologists, Audubon among the number, have found 

 five eggs in their nests. I have, however, mostly found two, and on 

 no occasion have I found more than three to constitute the full com- 

 plement. The eggs vary much in their markings. Their ground color 

 is a dull white or rusty white, marked with minute brown spots, or 

 with large purplish dark-brown blotches, often covering the greater 

 part of the egg. Gentry tells us : " The eggs vary in size, even in the 

 same nest. The largest measures 2.52 by 1.88 inches, and the smallest 

 2.10 by 1.72 inches.' 7 Incubation lasts about three weeks. Certain 

 writers claim that this specie will boldly defend invasion of its home 

 on the part of man. Such may have been the experience of others, 

 but such statement is the reverse of my experience. I have taken 

 both eggs and young, and, as yet, I have encountered no opposition ; 

 but have found them cowardly, flying away, in fact, beyond gunshot 

 at my approach, uttering cries of distress, and seemingly to engage in 

 mutual condolence over their misfortune. 



FOOD. 



Doctor Wood says, in speaking of this species, " In their bill of 

 fare, snakes form quite an item in the spring and summer months, 

 but in the winter months the wild game of our woods and the poultry 

 yard satisfy the cravings of hunger. When capturing snakes they 

 sometimes ' wake up the wrong passenger.' A farmer living in this 

 vicinity, while putting up a fence around his pasture, noticed a large 

 Hawk on the ground some forty rods from him, sometimes rising up 

 two or three feet then dropping down. Supposing him to be devour- 

 ing some game, he paid but little attention to it at first, but from it 

 continuing in the same place, and keeping up the same maneuvering 

 for a time, his curiosity was excited, and coming near the bird he dis- 

 covered that the tail of a large black snake was coiled around the 

 Hawk's neck, and that the head and a part of its body was in a hole 

 in the ground. The Hawk was nearly exhausted. With a blow of 

 his axe the farmer severed the snake, and brought the Hawk to his 

 barn where he kept him alive for some time. The part of the snake 



