﻿152 Bird -Lore 



for many years by apparently the same pair of birds, and material had been 

 added each year. The average size was two and one-half feet in diameter 

 by one foot thick. The nest was invariably composed of sticks and lined 

 with grape-vine bark and corn-husks. No attempt was made at conceal- 

 ment, and most of the nests were visible for miles around. 



The earliest eggs were found on March 26. May 12 is the latest date 

 on which eggs were recorded, but this was probably a second attempt after 

 the destruction of the first set. 



Great -horned Owls were also found quite commonly in this vicinity, 

 but their nesting period overlapped that of the Red -tails so that there was 

 no double use of a single nest, first by Owls and then by Hawks, as has 

 often been reported. 



An interesting observation on the individuality of the Red -tail and a 

 possible proof that the same pair of birds make their home in the same nest 

 year after year, was afforded by three sets of two eggs each that were taken 

 from the same nest in three successive years. These eggs are beautifully 

 marked, and resemble one another so closely that they are easily distinguished 

 from among a great number of the same species. These eggs were taken 

 from a nest in a basswood tree sixty feet from the ground on April 10, 

 1896; March 26, 1897, and April 3, 1898. Another item of interest is the 

 finding of a runt egg which is not more than one-fourth the size of its nest 

 companion. This egg contained no yolk. 



The advent of the camera effectually put a stop to egg-taking proclivi- 

 ties and opened an entirely new field for bird study. 



The nest which served as the home of the pair of Red-tails that figure 

 in this story, and whose pictures are used as illustrations, was discovered 

 early in January of the year 1895. The nest tree stood half way up on a 

 hillside, among a very few old oak monarchs and a profusion of slim, 

 second -growth birches. Before the leaves appeared the nest stood out con- 

 spicuously against its white background and could easily be seen from a mile 

 away. The occupants of the nest had a most beautiful territory to survey. 

 To the south could be seen the rugged cliffs and deep narrow valleys worn by 

 a clear, bubbling, spring- water stream; to the west, the undulating expanse 

 of low Iowa hills reaching back until the distinctness is lost in the horizon, 

 while to the northward, the Upper Iowa river flows in its meandering course 

 through bottom-lands covered with groves of giant trees and cultivated 

 fields. 



On April 5, 1901, I paid a visit to the nest in the birch tree and found 

 it all ready for the eggs. The birds were at first nowhere in sight, but as 

 soon as I had climbed to the nest they both came sailing rapidly toward me 

 from over the hill to the east. The male, after circling about overhead for 

 a few minutes, perched on the dead limb of an oak tree three hundred yards 

 away. Here, on what I learned later was his favorite lookout point, he sat 



