January, 1882.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
87 
Mexican Goshawk. 
The little Asturina niiida plagiata 
Ridg of which I believe I obtained the 
first specimen actually taken within the 
borders of the United States, May 17th, 
1872, but said to have been previously seen 
on August 19th, 1871, by Mr. Robert 
Ridgway, Richland County, Illinois, (vide 
Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, volume III, 
page twenty-four, Birds of North America.) 
It is not an uncommon summer resident in 
the southern portions of Arizona Territory. 
Of the life history of this, one of the 
handsomest of our Raptores, comparative¬ 
ly little is still known. During the month 
of April, r872, I saw several of these 
Hawks among the timber bordering Rillitto 
creek, near Tucson, Arizona Territory, 
where I subsequently also found it breed¬ 
ing and obtained several sets of their eggs. 
I also noticed this species at different 
points along the Santa Cruz as well as on 
the San Pedro Rivers. Its range will un¬ 
doubtedly be found to extend as far north as 
the Gila River at least, if not farther, when 
properly looked after. 
My attention was first drawn to these 
Hawks by their peculiar call-notes, which 
resemble the piping of the Long-billed 
Curlew (Numenius longirostris) so much 
that I at first supposed some of these birds 
to be about, but I soon found out that they 
emanated from this little Hawk, which was 
then a perfect stranger to me. The birds 
were very noisy during the mating season 
and although I was very anxious to find 
out what species I had to deal with I left 
them alone till after they had commenced 
nesting, as I wanted the eggs more than I 
did the birds themselves. 
By referring to my notes I find that the 
first pair of these birds were seen by me 
on April 4th, 1872, circling high in the air 
and finally settling down on a dry branch 
of a tall cotton-wood tree growing in the 
Rillitto creek bottom. On May 17 th I took 
the first set of eggs of this species and shot 
the male bird at the same time. The nest 
\vas placed on a large cotton-wood tree 
near the Laguna, nine miles west of Tuc¬ 
son. It was located in the top-most 
branches of the tree, not less than seventy 
feet from the ground and contained three 
fine fresh eggs. The nest, not a very sub¬ 
stantial affair, consisted of a shallow plat¬ 
form, composed principally of small cotton¬ 
wood twigs, a number of them broken off 
green by the birds themselves. I have 
seen them do this, selecting a suitable twig, 
then flying at it very swiftly, grasping it 
with the talons and usually succeeding in 
breaking it at the first trial. Many of the 
twigs referred to had the leaves attached 
to them yet only partly dried. The inner 
lining of the nest consisted of dry cotton¬ 
wood leaves and the tops of willows, the 
latter also taken while green. No bark or 
any other material than that mentioned 
was used in the construction of this nest. 
. Another found June 6th, 1872, contained 
but two eggs on which the bird had been 
setting for about a week. It was also 
placed in the upper branches of one of the 
largest cotton-wood trees on Rillitto creek 
and resembled the first one in structure, 
but was lined with a few strips of bark and 
dry leaves. The eggs described in volume 
III, page 248, Birds of North America, by 
Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, were taken out 
of this nest. 
A third set of their eggs was taken on 
June 19th, likewise found in a tall cotton¬ 
wood. These, two in number, had been 
set on a few days. 
The fourth and last nest I found on June 
20th, containing two eggs partly incubated. 
This nest was likewise placed in a large 
cotton-wood on one of the outer limbs and 
about fifty feet from the ground, extremely 
hard to get at and was lined entirely with 
partly dry cotton-wood leaves. The native 
Mexicans call this bird “ Gavilan Prieta.” 
The eggs of this species are pale blueish 
white in color and unspotted, but are al¬ 
ways more or less stained and soiled with 
a yellowish matter hard to clean off. 
They measure about 2 inches in length 
