A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
Mr. R. Owen, who found this bird breeding near San Geronimo, Guatemala,
April 2 (Ibis, 1861, p. 67), states that the nest was built on the very
crown of a high tree in the plain. It was made of small branches twisted
together, and had a slight lining of coarse grass. It was shallow, and
formed a mass of considerable size. The eggs were four in number, and
are described as measuring 2.15 inches by 1.60, having a light red
ground-color, and spotted and blotched all over with several shades of a
darker red.
Dr. Heermann found the nest of this species on the Medina River. It
was built in an oak, and constructed of coarse twigs and lined with
leaves and roots. It was quite recently finished, and contained no
eggs. Mr. Dresser states that it breeds all over the country about San
Antonio, building a large bulky nest of sticks, lined with small roots
and grass, generally placed in a low mesquite or oak tree, and laying
three or four roundish eggs, similar to those of the Honey Buzzard of
Europe. He found several nests in April and through May, and was told
by the _rancheros_ that its eggs are found as late as June. The nests
found in the collection of Dr. Berlandier, of Matamoras, were coarse
flat structures, composed of flags, reeds, and grass. The nests, though
usually built on the tops of trees, are occasionally found, according
to Darwin, on a low cliff, or even on a bush. The number of the eggs
is rarely, if ever, more than three or four. Four eggs, taken by Dr.
Berlandier near the Rio Grande, exhibit a maximum length of 2.44 inches;
least length, 2.25; average, 2.41. The diameter of the smallest egg
is 1.75 inches; that of the largest, 1.88; average, 1.81. These eggs
not only present the great and unusual variation in their length of
nearly eight per cent, but very striking and anomalous deviations from
uniformity are also noticeable in their ground-color and markings. The
ground-color varies from a nearly pure white to a very deep russet or
tan-color, and the markings, though all of sepia-brown, differ greatly
in their shades. In some, the ground-color is nearly pure white with
a slight pinkish tinge, nearly unspotted at the smaller end, and only
marked by a few light blotches of a sepia-brown. These markings increase
both in size and frequency, and become of a deeper shade, as they are
nearer the larger end, until they become almost black, and around this
extremity they form a large confluent ring of blotches and dashes of
a dark sepia. Others have a ground-color of light russet, or rather
white with a very slight wash of russet, and are marked over the entire
surface, in about equal proportion, with irregular lines and broad
dashes of dark sepia. Again, in others the ground is of the deepest
russet or tan-color, and is marked with deep blotches of a dark sepia,
almost black. The eggs are much more oblong than those of most birds
of prey, and in this respect also show their relation to the Vultures,
rather than to the Hawks or Eagles.
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