Red-tailed. 
Hawk 
King-bird* s 
nest 
Cuckoos 
' 
A Red-tailed Hawk, flying from tree to tree as I 
advanced in my canoe uttered, each time it took wing, a low 
choking cry apparently a modification of the neighing note 
but only slightly resembling the latter/”} 
During my last trip down river I noticed what I 
took to be a bunch of drift, clinging to the extreme end 
of a half-dead branch of a willow which extended out over 
the river, scarce two feet above the water. This mrrning, 
to my astonishment, it had developed into a neatly-finished 
nest on which a King-bird was sitting on one fresh egg. 
Both nest and bird were absurdly conspicuous and I was not 
surprised when,passing the spot on my return, late in the 
afternoon, I found the nest empty and the bird gone. Yet 
what could have taken the egg? Certainly not a Squirrel, 
probably not a Jay and there are no Crackles along the river 
now. I am inclined to suspect that a Cuckoo was the thief. 
(I afterwards found the egg in my canoe l In some mysterious 
way I must ha.ve shaken it out of the nest.) ^Bot h species 
of Cuckoos are now nearly silent. I heard only one bird 
to-day, a Black-bill. Does not this lapsing into silence 
at this season indicate tha.t the birds* well-known notes 
really constitute a song, despite the fact that they are 
uttered by both sexes, as well as, in modified form, by the 
young? I think the Black-bill sings (or calls) a little 
later in the season than the Yellow-bill. 
