BIRDS OF PREY 



151 



Nest : Made of sticks, sagebrush, and leaves ; lined with green leaves 

 and plant fibre ; from 20 to 50 feet high in trees, sometimes in bushes, 

 sometimes on the ground, sometimes on ledges of rocky cliffs. 



Eggs: 1 to 4 ; pale greenish buffy, lightly spotted with shades of brown. 

 Size 2.21 X 1.70. 



Throughout tlie interior valleys of California, Swain- 

 son's Hawk is a common spring and summer visitant, 

 and one wliose full value ^.^-^^is not yet so well 

 known as it should be. ^h.^^4^ Pocket srophers, 



and grass- 



-'iV 



:'^- 



■"■■■ — ^"^^ •» ""^'^^ X ^ 



ground squirrels, insects, 

 hoppers are its sole diet in y 

 trict, and no one can com- 

 pute the benefit that accrue- 

 to the farmer from the breed- 

 ing of these hawks on or near 

 their land. Par 

 ticularly is this 

 true of a sandy 

 barren soil 

 where gopher 



burrows arc . ^ ""' 

 numerous. Dozens of the 

 hawks fly down to the go- 

 pher colony, just at dusk, 

 and take up their stand at 

 the entrances of the bur- 

 rows, where tliey wait i)atiently and silently until the prey 

 appears. It never escapes them. If there are young hawks 

 in the nest, the victim will be carried to them ; if not, it 

 will usually be eaten at the perch nearest to the hunting 

 ground. In eitlier case, back comes the h.iwk for a 



'f-^P^-^ 



342. SwAixsoN Hawk. 



n'(/i7 silently until the prey appears.''^ 



