The JVatiiralists’ Companion. 
“That Rotten Material.” 
ClNClNNATTI, O., Aug. i 6 th, ’ 86 . 
Mr. Guelf, Editor. 
With your permission I would like to 
say just a few words in regard to the 
burnt or rotten cloth found in a mound 
Mr. Wigglesworth described. 
Samples of this cloth are quite rare. 
Very few collectors have any of it. In 
some mounds quite a supply of it is found, 
but always in a condition which renders 
its preservation difficult. Foster in his 
excellent work, “North American Pre¬ 
historic Races,” describes the cloth, its 
texture, etc. Some found in a Piqua 
County (Ohio) mound is in my posses¬ 
sion, and is sealed between glass plates 
to keep the air from decomposing it. 
It is woven in a very simple manner; the 
threads being as coarse as those used in 
our modern coffee sacks. It- was evi¬ 
dently made from vegetable fiber. The 
Indians had so little of it that it seems 
to me improbable that they should 
make a tent out of it (as Mr. W. says). 
Besides, it is woven so loosely that it 
would form no protection against rain. 
It is not strong, and a wind would tear 
it. It might have been used to cover 
the face or part of the body of dis¬ 
tinguished dead; and again it might 
have been used by the medicine men or 
in ceremonial proceedings. We never 
heard of a tent being used in connection 
with burying. The nearest approach 
to a tent is the modern method of the 
North-west tribes of burying the dead 
in lodges raised on poles, with the cov¬ 
ering of a few boards. 
At any rate we cannot positively say 
what the cloth was used for. Each has 
a right to express his opinion, of course. 
I have given mine. 
W. K. Moorehead. 
The Red-tailed Hawk. 
(buteo borealis.) 
BY J. W. JACOBS, WAYNESBURiq PA. 
While strolling through the woods on 
the 25 th of April, I spied a large and 
bulky nest, in one of the tallest oaks in 
the woods. Knowing that there was a 
nest of this hawk in the vicinity last 
season, and thinking this was the old 
nest, I did not take much notice of it. 
I had hardly gone a hundred yards fur¬ 
ther when I saw another nest, similar to 
the first but not so high. I threw stones 
at this nest, but could scare no bird 
from it. On* going back to the first 
nest, I thought I could see a large head 
peering over the edge. I picked up a 
stone and tapped on the tree, and as I 
did so, a large Red-tail flew from the 
nest. Knowing that there was a fine 
set of eggs in the nest, I began at once 
to ascend the tree, which was so large 
that I could not reach hall-way around 
it, but the bark was coarse, and I made 
my way with difficulty to the first branch, 
which was about twenty-five feet from 
the ground. 
Gaining the first branches, I could 
now make my way to the nest very easily. 
When I was about half-way to the nest, 
I heard the cry of the mother bird, and 
on turning, saw her perched on a tree 
about a hundred yards away, and just as 
I reached the limb nearest the nest, I 
heard the cry again; this time she was 
not forty yards away. 
A moment later and I looked for the 
first time upon a set of eggs of the Red¬ 
tailed Hawk. Thinking I could carry 
them to the ground safer if they were 
lighter, I began to blow them. 1 had 
just began blowing the first egg when I 
