20 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 13-No. 2 
specimens seen but not secured. See Proceed- 
ings U. S. Natural Museum, 1886, pp. 248-249. 
One day, while stationed in a tali larch, 
watching a pair of Swallow- tailed Kites which 
were nesting not far away, a Broad-Wing 
seemed much disturbed at my presence. Perch- 
ing himself on top of a dry larch, within easy 
gunshot of me, he kept up a continual cry, 
screaming forth his shril e-e-e. Now and again 
he darted by me, so close as to fan me with his 
wings ; then he resumed the same perch where 
he poured forth his doleful strain. This was 
the first attempt at resistance I had witnessed, 
as when frightened from the nest, the female 
will fly heavily away a little distance, 
and remain among the tree tops an anxious 
witness of the collector’s depredations. 
On warm summer days, this bird forsakes its 
ordinary flapping flight and the shadows of the 
woods, and indulges in a series of mrial per- 
formances befitting a bird of higher station. 
Suddenly, one will start up briskly from some 
dead tree in the forest, and begin its upward 
course in short circles, rising quickly and easi- 
ly, by gradually widening spirals, assisting it- 
self by vigorous flapping until well up, when 
the metallic scream ceases, and with full spread 
wings and tail it soars lightly back and forth, 
still tending upward until almost out of sight, 
and with arrowy swiftness the gay fellow de- 
scends with lsjpg sweeps and curves, closing 
the act with a horizontal dash far over the 
woods and marshes. 
In migration, many pleasing freaks of flight 
may be seen, as individuals give chase to some 
neighbor, while the great company moves along 
in its onward way. 
During the mating season (which begins 
about the first week in May), the clear, shrill 
scream constantly echoes in the dim woods, as 
one answers back to another from some chosen 
perch. This cry somewhat resembles the call 
of the Kildeer Plover, and is tolerably well rep- 
resented by the syllabes chee-e-e-e — sharp and 
piercing when the bird is angry, or drawled and 
pitifully when an intruder comes too near the 
nest. Frequently have I almost decided to 
leave the humble parent in possession of her 
treasures, so pleading was she, and her attitude 
so indicative of sorrow'. Well does the expe- 
rienced collector know the value of the alarm 
note which this species utters at the first ap- 
proach of danger. Many a nest would be passed 
by unnoticed w'ere it not for that metallic e 
which usually greets his approach, and is an i 
almost certain indication that a nest is hidden 
somewhere near. i 
■ Their food consists of small squirrels, frogs, 
and, in fact, any small quarry easily captured. 
Never have I known them to molest the poultry. 
A trio of fledgelings, which came into my 
possession, devoured almost anything offered 
to them, even cooked beef. It was really 
amusing to watch their antics. One, who was 
the strongest, asserted his powers by gathering 
everything to himself, at which he was kept 
very busy, as his weaker nestmates would slyly 
purloin a portion, even at the risk of a flap over 
the head. They were always quarrelsome and 
never satisfied. 
The nest, which is invariably a new one, dif- 
fers in appearance from that of the Cooper’s 
ITawk. That species always uses sticks and 
twigs, which it breaks from trees and bushes, 
while the Broad-Wing contents itself with 
sticks gathered from the ground near by, out of 
which it constructs a heavy structure in an 
ample crotch of a small tree. But one excep- 
tion to this rule was a nest found in the top 
of a very large post oak, which had been broken 
about thirty feet from tne ground. The exter- 
nal dimensions of the nest are less than those 
of the Cooper’s Hawk, while the internal con- 
struction is identical. 
For lining, the bird uses a few tree bark chips, 
and later, some leafy twigs of the Populus gran- 
didentata, or other tree. When incubation has 
well advanced, the small drawing feathers of 
the bird adhere all over the structure, and then 
it is time to secure the eggs if ever. 
The following are a few instances which well 
illustrate the time and manner of nesting. The 
nests are from two seasons, 1886-1887, the dates 
for the two years being almost identical. 
May 16th, a set of two eggs was taken from a 
nest in a crotch forty feet from the ground in a 
small bass wood tree; eggs slightly incubated. 
May 17th, a set of three was found in the 
crotch of a small elm tree. 
May 19th, a set of slightly incubated eggs was 
taken from the crotch of a small bass wood 
tree. 
Also another set was secured, containing four 
very richly marked fresh eggs. This was the 
only instance in my experience -where so large 
a number was found. The nest was placed 
thirty feet from the grouud in the crotch of a 
small “ sugar tree,” Acer saccharinum , in open 
woods, forty rods back from the shore of a 
small lake. 
May 20th, I took a set of three from a crotch 
twenty-five feet from the ground in a post oak. 
May 21st, a set of three fresh eggs were found 
in a nest in a crotch of a bass wood. 
Feb. 1888.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
21 
Also sets of three well advanced in incubation 
on the 24th and 28th of May respectively. 
A majority of sets taken in the spring of 1886 
contained three eggs, while those of 1887 had 
with few exceptions, but two eggs, but in the 
two seasons, more sets of three than of any 
other number were taken. 
Two is a good set, and frequently but one egg 
makes up the complement. The time to expect 
eggs in this region is during the latter half of 
May, when the leaves begin to thicken the tree 
tops. 
One nest which I secured, and among the 
first, was especially interesting. After traaip- 
ing through a tangle of tree tops and upturned 
roots, thickets and swamps, I came into the 
open woods along Pelican River, where its 
waters bound along over huge boulders, and 
under and among fallen tree trunks which lie 
across its narrow bed, and where the low bluffs, 
elad with giant trees, close in upon it, as it is 
hastening on its way to Floyd Lake. While eat- 
ing my dinner, a nest of some species of hawk 
was seen not far awaj-, which proved to belong 
to a pair of Broad-Wings. But they had chosen 
a romantic home and one hard to reach, and on 
the other side of the stream. An elm tree grew 
on the side of a steep bluff, and one of the 
branches drooped over the river, about thirty 
feet from the water. With little difficulty I 
crossed, on a fallen log, and made the ascent 
bluish-white ground color. These tints have, in 
many instances, the appearance of being under 
the shell, and are present in specks, spots and 
blotches. The remaining eighteen eggs are 
marked with spots and blotches of fawn color, 
nut, also on a faint yellowish or bluish-white 
ground color. These latter ones are the bril- 
liant specimens. 
Both types are beautiful, and it is difficult to 
say which is the handsomer. And a set will not 
always contain all eggs of one type of color- 
ation. On the contrary, the grays will gener- 
ally be present on one of the eggs which be- 
longs to a set of brilliantly marked ones. 
As to size, 1 wish to reiterate what I said in 
The Ornithologist and Oologist for Jan- 
uary, 1887 (vol. XII, p. 9). No work that I am 
acquainted with, (except Ridgway's new Man- 
ual of North American Birds) , gives the correct 
size of ,the eggs of this species. The latter 
book states that the size is “ 1.93x1.56,” and 
that is probably a fair average, although most of 
the sets in the series before me will measure 
even less. 1.90x1.54 would probably be nearer 
the size, and some of them are much smaller. 
Mr. Preston is undoubtedly correct in what 
he says about the number of eggs this bird 
lays. Four is probably exceptional, and two or 
three is the full number. — J. P. N.l -J9~ 
O.&Q. Sill. Feb. 1SS8 p . 21 . 
to the branch on which the nest was placed, 
and by hard climbing and at the risk of life and 
limb, secured the set of eggs, which, with the 
adventure, was at that time ample reward fora 
toilsome day’s work. 
As Mr. Norris has very accurately described 
the eggs of the present species in a former 
number of the O. & O., there is no need to at- 
tempt it here. When the Broad-Wing takes his 
journey to the wilderness of the North, I may 
follow him again, or never, yet, many pleasing 
memories will remain of his familiar ways and 
modest habits. 
[Of a series of seventeen sets of eggs of this 
species before the present writer, there are ten 
sets of two eggs, six of three, and one of four, 
the latter being the one referred to by Mr. Pres- 
ton above. Nine sets came from Minnesota, 
three from Mississippi, four from Pennsylvania, 
and one from Massachusetts. 
There are two types of coloration observable 
in this series. Of the forty-two eggs contained 
in the seventeen sets, twenty-four of them 
have markings of very subdued tints, ranging 
from pearl-gray, through lavender-gray and 
lilac-gray, to ecru drab, on a faint yellowish, or 
