Nest of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. 
This species is rather a rare resident in 
the vicinity of Listowel or any other part of 
Ontario that I have visited ; and though it 
is recorded as “ abundant ” in British Col- 
umbia, and as being “ partially migratory,” 
yet it did not come under my observations 
during my passage through, and short resi- 
dence in, that “ sea of mountains.” How- 
ever, every season since I began recording 
my avi faunian observations a few of the 
species have been noted every season in this 
vicinity, chiefly in the summer months, and 
occasionally in the months of February and 
March. And in my earlier days, in Peel and 
North Wallace, I had noted it as one of the 
worst enemies of small birds, wild and tame 
pigeons, and young domestic fowls. Accord- 
ing to my observations, the favorite habitat 
of this species is thick swamp woods, being 
but seldom seen in the more open, hard- 
wood timbered lands; though, if it has a 
nesting home in some neighboring swamp, it 
often is seen hovering, kite like, over the 
the tree tops, or dashing swiftly across the 
fields in quest of prey. Again it may be 
seen, on a rnid-summer day, going through 
the trees of an orchard, seeking for the nests 
of small birds as a small bird would do in 
search of insects, and when it has discovered 
the whereabouts of a flock of young chickens 
it will revisit the place, day after day, until 
it has appropriated every individual to its 
own special use or that of its young, unless 
the mother hen becomes doubly watchful, or 
a period is put to its marauding with the 
contents of a shotgun. Its nesting place is 
generally in some thickly timbered swampy 
evergreen wood. Some ten years ago I dis- 
covered a nest with four eggs of this species ; 
I afterwards described it in “ The Canadian 
Sportsman and Naturalist.” This nest, which 
was quite a bulky affair and composed wholly 
of the small dry branches of tamarac, was 
placed in a cedar tree, about thirty feet off 
the ground. Since then no other occupied 
nest of this bird had been discovered till the 
summer of 1891, when I became aware that 
a nest containing the young of this species 
was situated in a piece of deep swamp near 
the northeast corner of Wildwood, but being 
desirous that the birds would return and nest 
again in the vicinity, I did not disturb them 
or even go in to see the exact position of 
the nest. 
On the 30th of April, 1892, as I was doing 
some work near by, and on the alert to catch 
every sight and sound of bird life that effected 
my surroundings, the notes of some bird that 
seemed strange to me came out from the 
centre of the swamp, and for some time I 
was at a loss to know what species could be 
their author. At length a Sharp-shinned 
Hawk, flying across an open in the wood 
and uttering similar notes, revealed the mys- 
tery of cause and effect. I had made a dis- 
covery ; these were the love and nesting notes 
of a female Sharp Shin, and she was about 
to nest in the same vicinity where I knew 
that the species had nested the previous 
summer, so I resolved to watch proceedings ; 
and three or four days after, as the notes still 
continued to be heard, I went in to investi- 
gate. As I approached the place where the 
hawk was perched, she flew towards and 
over me, darting out her claws and repeating 
her whack, whack, whacks, and tweet, 
tweet, tweets, in her most wrathful manner, 
and then flew to a short distance, where she 
continued to exercise her voice from a higher 
standpoint. 
After considerable search I discovered a 
large nest in a cedar tree about 20 feet off 
the ground, to which I climbed up, but 
found that it was evidently the nest occupied 
by the Hawk last year ; and thinking that it 
might be again occupied, I left, and a week 
later returned, and found that no repairing 
had been done ; so I concluded that she 
must have a new nesting site nearer the 
place where I first discovered her, and which 
she still continued to occupy; and after a 
closer looking into the tops of the neighbor- 
OoUeotioa of Raptores Eggs, J.P.lt, 
Sliarn-sliimied Hawk, 4-:i, l.l-l, s-y, !-■. -I SG 
O.&O. XV. Apr. 1890. p. 56 
