268 GAME FALCON. 
poor, it will leave it and seek another. It nests in hollow trees, 
frequently occupying an old woodpecker’s hole ; sometimes, though 
rarely, it has occupied an old crow’s nest, seldom constructing a 
nest for itself, laying usually four eggs, of very uniform size. By 
taking one egg of a set from four sets and three states, I find the 
measurements as follows: 
From Pennsylvania, long diam. 1°30. Short diam. 1°12. 
i... Maine, Lg ** Woo. $ e 
‘©  Connecticút, =“ w Too s AD E 
(73 6c 1:38. {3 “66 1°15. 
The markings are somewhat variable, not any more so, however, 
than most of the eggs of our hawks. The ground color varies 
from a cream to a deep buff, blotched with small dark brown or 2 
chocolate spots, sometimes quite sparsely, then again almost con- 
‘fluently ; occasionally the blotches are quite thick at the large or- a 
small end, more commonly the former, and in some instances at 
both ends with few in the middle. Nuttall claims that this bird 
“lays from four to five eggs.” Dr. Brewer says “its eggs are 
usually as many as five in number.” Audubon says “ it lays from 
five to seven, never less than five.” It may in some sections lay 
that number of eggs, but such has not been my experience in 
New England, having known of only one set of five taken in this | 
vicinity. One of my collectors found a nest with four eggs in the 
top of a stump about ten feet from the ground, where it evidently 
had been broken off by the wind. This nest was composed of 
grass, and was discovered by the grass protruding through a crack 
in the stump. Whether the hawk constructed this nest, or whether 
it had been made by some other bird it is impossible to tell; but, 
if this hawk constructs no nest as asserted by Dr. Brewer and 
sit. During incubation they found the farmers’ chickens Vey 
convenient for food—too much so for their own good. Bo 
the birds I saw after they were killed and their four eggs—two % 
ees AR Sage 
EEA EE ee tar ee ae an ET A oS ae Se ed PURER S eek Nias See ag | 
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