which commani'i a view of tl^e country for quite a distance and 
the nests stand out prominently as landmarks. In other locali¬ 
ties, as on Plum Island, they are forced by the lack of trees to 
siipply each pair with a site for their home, to build it on the 
ground and the eggs are sometimes dep(;sited on the bare sand, 
with a few sticks and bunches of seaweed arranged in a circle, 
while some of the nests are built up to the height of several 
feet, regulated by the number of years the nest has been occu¬ 
pied, and the amount of material added to it yearly. Often 
their nests are placed on large rocks, as on the coast of Maine, 
and in Long Island Sound. "A large buoy, with a lattice- 
work top, near the west end of Fishers Island, was occupied 
for many years by a nest of these birds, to the advantage of 
the fishermen, who were warned in foggy weather of the po¬ 
sition of the buoy by the screaming of the Fish Hawks.” 
Some very remarkable situations are chosen for the lo¬ 
cation of their nests, other than in the usual places, either a 
live or dead tree. In the AVarren Reservoir, a few years ago, 
there wore two nests built on dead stumps, barely four feet 
above the water, and the nests coidd be looked into from a boat. 
One of the most unique situations that has come to my atten¬ 
tion is a nest in Portsmouth, built on an old windmill, which 
has had the “floats” blown off, and the nest is so placed that, 
when the rudder turns, the sitting bird, on her nest, swings 
round and round with every breeze. Another queer site was 
on the flat tower of a church, where the birds were so noisy 
during church services that the nest was pulled down. In 
Bristol a pair once located on top of a large house chimney. 
Frequently they build their nests on the cross arms of the 
tcleplionc and electric light poles, much to the annoyance of 
the linemen, for in wet weather tb.e presence of sticks lying on 
the wires often produce a “cross” or “ground,” and for this 
reason thev are pulled down. One pair in Bristol was so per¬ 
sistent in “sticking” to the same pole after it had been pulled 
down that they built it up four times, and it was only after a 
“ground” had been made by the wet mass in a rain, which 
set the pole and nest afire, that they deserted it. The pair lo¬ 
cated in the old tree on the Plartwell place on Warwick Neck, 
which was cut down to make improvements, relocated its nes< 
