Notes on the Nesting of the Red- 
tailed Hawk in Illinois. 
BY DR. W. S. STRODE, BERN ADOTTE, ILL. 
Perhaps in no other section of Illinois is the 
I Red-tail ( Buteo borealis ) so numerous as it is in 
the Spoon River County around the village of 
i Bernadotte, for here is to be found every form 
' of river, creek, hill and prairie land. 
The hill and flats covered with large and 
i small timber, with a lining of hazel and finer 
1 brush underneath, is favorite habitat of the 
gray rabbit and other small rodents that fur- 
nish the chief food supply during the nesting 
season of this hawk and his interesting neigh- 
bor, the Great-horned Owl ( Buteo virginianus) . 
J During the winter season only an occasional 
| Red-tail is to be seen, but with the first indica- 
tion of spring, in early March, they appear in 
considerable numbers already mated ; and from 
this time to the end of the breeding season, 
about May 15th, they constitute a lively and 
interesting feature of the landscape, giving it 
variety and animation. After this they disap- 
pear, where I do not know. Probably to some 
of the cool health resorts of the north. At any 
rate the sight of one during the hot summer 
months is a rare occurrence. They reappear 
again with the fall migration, in late Septem- 
ber or in October, and a few remain with us 
throughout the winter. 
In choosing a nesting site they usually select 
a very tall tree, standing on a side bill or at 
the head of a hollow, placing the nest among 
the topmost branches. This tree is frequently 
I chosen with an eye to its non-climbability and 
is often forty feet or more to the first limbs. 
In the last few years the demands made on 
the larger growth of hickory and oak by the 
lumber dealers of this county has destroyed 
; many of the favorite nesting localities of the 
j Red-tail and they have been driven to seek nest- 
ing places elsewhere. 
Here again they have displayed almost hu- 
man sagacity in selecting the gigantic cotton- 
{ wood and sycamore trees of the river bottom, 
I instead of the more numerous but less high 
elms and soft maples. 
In these trees, with the nest almost among 
the clouds, they would have no fears of a visit 
from the oological collector, for in some posi- 
tions in which I found their nests last season, 
no collector unless he wished to commit sui- 
cide, would think for a minute of climbing. 
On the bank of the “ Classic Spoon,” a half 
mile above the town, stands one of these lofty 
trees, a giant sycamore twenty-one feet in cir- 
cumference, that has been used as a nesting 
site by these hawks time out of mind. Many a 
time has the sportsman with murderous intent 
sent up from the river below a charge of shot 
at the brooding parent bird, but usually with 
no effect, except to frighten her. 
In the spring of 1885 a young man aimed 
with an army musket, heavily charged with 
large shot, and gave the female her death 
wound as she perched on the edge of the nest 
feeding her young. She simply settled down 
over the domicile, spreading her wings across it 
and over her baby birds and expired, and for 
months afterwards her dead body was to be 
seen in this position, a silent yet eloquent re- 
proach to the eruelty and rapacity of the great 
destroyer man. 
The next spring, 1886, the male appeared 
with another mate, and after hovering about 
the old tree for a few days they left it and 
went to a wooded slope a half mile away, and 
in a large white oak built a nest and reared 
i their young. Probably evidences of the foul 
murder committed a year before still remained 
at the old nest and decided them against using 
it. 
Last spring, 1887, they appeared about March 
1st and at once set about repairing the old 
home in the sycamore, and for two weeks, dur- 
ing which time I was making professional trips 
up the river in my boat every two or three 
days, they came under my observation, and 
with no thought of doing so at first, the desire 
began to develop and grow upon me to scale 
J that tree and secure the contents of that nest, 
until finally on March 12th I gathered together 
a coil of rope, a ball of string, my climbers and 
an axe. I was accompanied by a friend and 
we repaired to the tree and at once set about 
devising the best means to get up to the forks, 
| about thirty feet high. We finally decided to 
cut a hackberry sapling that grew near by and 
by trimming up about twenty-five feet of it we 
; succeeded, after much tugging and lifting, in 
elevating it against the side of the tree. Put- 
ting on my climbers, I went up this and from 
i the top was enabled by the aid of the sap- 
i sprouts that here sprung out to get over into 
the forks of the tree. After resting a few min- 
utes I now went on rapidly towards the nest 
until I had come within ten feet of it. I then 
made the startling discovery that the limb on 
which the nest was placed narrowed down to 
the thickness of my leg and was hollow and 
full of Woodpecker holes on the under side. It 
was a rather ticklish condition of things and I 
was a hundred feet from the ground. But my 
blood was up and I had come too far to back 
out now. Cautiously and slowly I went on up 
until witli one hand I reached over into the nest 
and grasping the two eggs it contained, I 
quickly slid down the limb two feet and there 
rested. Putting the eggs into a mitten I at- 
tached the ball of string to it and safely low- 
ered them to my companion below. The 
hawks all this time were perched just over my 
head, constantly uttering their shrill screams. 
I made the descent safely and after reaching 
terra firma presented much the appearance of 
having been rolled in a flour bin. 
Of this hawk I took last season nineteen sets 
of eggs, about half of them being sets of three. 
The nests invariably were made of sticks and 
twigs from a half inch in diameter down. The 
lining in most cases was of grape vine bark 
and oak leaves, with occasionally a few feath- 
ers or bits of moss. , no „ „ , C/ /<t y 
. Q. &O. XII . Dec. 188 7 p. /?£-/?/. 
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