FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



159 



I'rom Biolojiical Survt-y, U. S. 



Dept. of A-^riculture. 



Fig. 230. 



342. Buteo swainsoni Bonap. Swainson Hawk. 



Adult male in nomad plumage: throat and belly white, white of throat 

 sharp! 1/ contrasted irith reddish broivn chest hand ; upper parts nearly uni- 

 form dark g-rayish brown ; tail crossed by 

 aboijt 9 or 10 narrow blackish bands. Adult 

 female in 7tormal plumage : like male, but 

 chest patch grayish brown instead of rufous. 

 Melanistir phase, both sexes: whole plumage 

 uniform sooty brown, under tail coverts some- 

 times spotted or barred with rusty or whitish. 

 Every possible gradation is shown by different 

 individuals between this black phase and the 

 light colored normal plumage. Young : upper 

 })arts blackish brown varied with bulfy or yel- 

 lowish brown ; head. neck, and under parts 

 buffy brown, head and neck streaked with 

 blackish ; under parts usually more or less 

 ])lotclied with blackish. Male: length 10.50- 

 20.00. extent 48.00-50.r;0. wing 14.40-16.00, 

 tail S-0. bill .S0-.90. Female: length 21-22, 

 extent ."iO.SO-SG.OO. wing 14.75-17.2.j,tail 9-10, 

 bill .80-.95. 



Distribution. — From the arctic regions 

 south to Argentina ; in the United States 

 from the Pacific to Wisconsin, Illinois, and 

 Arkansas; casually to Massachusetts. Migratory north of South Dakota 

 and Nebraska. 



Nest. — In cotton woods and other trees, and also in bushes and on rocks, 

 made of sagebrush, willow, or other sticks, lined largely with green leaves 

 and bark. Egris : 1 to 4. greenish white, fading to yellowish, spotted in- 

 conspicuously with difFerent shades of brown. 



Food. — Almost entirely .small rodents, principally striped g'ophers and 

 mice, together with grasshoppers and crickets. 



• On the arid Avastes and tablelands of southern Arizona, as well 

 as in the saire and bunch grass districts of Nevada, Oregon, Washing- 

 ton, and Idaho, Swainson's liawk is especially abundant, outnumber- 

 ing, perhaps, all the other Raptorcs of these regions combined. It is 

 cminentl}' a prairie bird, shunning the densely timbered mountain 

 regions, and being more at home in the sparingly wooded localities 

 usually found along the watercourses of the lowlands. 



"Compared with the majority of our hawks it is gentle and un- 

 suspicious in disposition, living in ])erfect harmony with its smaller 

 neighbors. It is no unusual sight to find other birds, . . . nesting 

 in th(! same tree ; and the Arkansas kingbiid goes even farther than 

 this, sometimes constructing its home . . . under the nest of tlie.se 

 hawks or in the sides of it. . . , 



"The food of Swainsons hawk consists almost entirely of the 

 smaller rodents, principally striped gophers and miec'as well as grass 

 hopj^ers and the large black cricket, which is very common as well as 

 destructive in certain seasons, and the banc of the farmers in eastern 



