422 ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



P.vtco wainsonii var. oxyptcrvs, EIDG. apud BD., BKEW., & UIDG., N. A. Birds, iii, 



1874, 2CG. 

 I>u1ioitisif/nahis,CASS., Birds Cal. & Texas, 1854, 102, 198, pi. 31. /rf., Birds N. A., 



1858. 23. HKI-EM., P. R. E. Bi-p., x, pt. ii, 3859, 32. COUES, Proc. Acad. 



Nat. Sci. Phila., 1SG6, 45. COOPER, Birds Cal., i, 1870, 474. SNOW, Birds 



Kan., 1872, 4. 

 Bv.tco lairdii, HOY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila., 1853, 451. CASS., Birds Cal. & Texas, 



1854, 99, 257, pi. 41. If?., Birds N. A., 1858, 21. HAYD., Trans. AID. Phil. 



Soc., xii, 18C2, 152. 



At Camp Grant, Ariz., in the latter part of September, this hawk was 

 present in very large numbers. About a mile below the post, out on 

 the plain, the stream was bordered by some large cottonwoods ; and these 

 were habitually used as roosting-places by the Turkey Buzzards and Hawks 

 conjointly, as the whitened appearance of the branches and the ground 

 below testified. Hawks and buzzards appeared to be on terms of the most 

 intimate companionship with each other, and one tree often held seven or 

 eight of either birds. The buzzards seemed if anything rather the shyer of 

 the two" and were generally the first to start, when immediately the whole 

 band would leave their perches, and begin circling in the air, "gradually 

 ascending higher and higher till out of danger. Thus they would continue 

 wheeling about till the coast was clear, when all would again resume their 

 perches. After leaving these, and getting fairly on the wing, which they did 

 rather clumsily, the flight of these hawks is firm and easy ; and, as they gradu- 

 ally soar higher and higher in circles, it bears no little resemblance to that 

 of the buzzards, though it is less powerful and not so well sustained. I am 

 not aware that these hawks feed upon carrion, though that they occasionally 

 do so is not unlikely. The crops of all those shot were crammed with grass- 

 hoppers ; and, as these insects were very abundant, the hawks, as a matter 

 of course, were very fat. 



Dr. Hoffman speaks of finding a nest of this hawk built in a cluster of 

 willows, about twenty feet from the ground, while within eight feet was a 

 nest of Bullock's Oriole, the two species appearing entirely indifferent to 

 each other's presence. Mr. Aiken examined a nest of this buzzard, which 

 contained newly-hatched young as late as August 1 . Other observers have 

 noticed a similar irregularity in the nesting of this species, so that it seems 

 highly probable that the rearing of a second brood is a rule with the species. 



