27S MICIIKiAN HIRD LIFE. 



in Cheljoygan county, in October 1883, untl recorded in tiie Auk, Vol. XIV, 

 1897, p. 216. This specimen is now in the University Museum, Ann Arbor 

 (Catal. No. 36062), and is an immature bird, in the black phase of plumage. 

 The bird was not sexed when skinned, but its size would indicate a male. 

 The second record is that of a specimen taken at Hessel, Mich., about 18 

 miles from Mackinaw City, October 13, 1908, and now in the collection of 

 P. A. Taverner (Auk, XXVI, 1909, p. 83). 



Specimens were reported from Kent county, Mich., by C. W. Gunn, 

 in November 1882, but examination of the Gunn collection, now in the 

 Kent Scientific Museum at Grand Rapids, reveals but three specimens, 

 marked B. swainsonii, two of which are from California and one from Kent 

 county, but all are Red-tailed Hawks without question. We are convinced 

 that the determinations in most cases have been based solely upon color 

 and pattern of plumage without comparison with genuine specimens of 

 swainsonii, and without an examination of the primaries to see whether 

 three or four were emarginate. 



Several specimens were reported by W. A. Davidson, in January 1897, 

 as killed in Wayne county; one was recorded by Dr. Miles as killed in Genesee 

 county in the summer of 1859, probably the one mentioned by Stockwell 

 in the Forest and Stream list. Covert reported it breeding in Washtenaw 

 county, taking the female and eggs May 5, 1880. A. H. Boies informed 

 Dr. Gibbs that he took a specimen at Hudson, Mich., about the first of 

 November 1879. Mr. Covert also records a specimen taken by himself 

 in Cadillac, August 16, 1882. Major Boies recorded a specimen taken on 

 Neebish Island in October of either 1892, 1893, or 1894 (Bull. Mich. Orn. 

 Club, I, 27). With the exception of the Kent county specimens in the Gunn 

 collection, we have been unal3le to examine any of the birds mentioned above 

 but have ascertained from inquiry that most of them were sold, exchanged, 

 or given away, and so lost track of. It is by no means impossible that some 

 of these were genuine Swainson's Hawks, but we feel no certainty that this 

 was the case. 



Mcllwraith (Birds of Ontario, 1894, p. 204) records a young specimen 

 observed at Hamilton in 1865, and another in the hands of a local taxider- 

 mist in 1886 but these identifications are open to some question. In 

 Wisconsin it is far from common. According to Kumlien and Hollister 

 (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 64) it has been "noted only during the autumnal 

 migrations, but probably occurs more frequently along the Mississippi 

 River than in the eastern or central parts of the state." 



On the plains west of the Mississippi it is a common species and feeds 

 principally on small mammals and insects, rarely attacking birds, and never 

 poultr3^ It has been known to feed almost exclusively on grasshoppers 

 for many days at a time, and when these insects are extraordinarily 

 abundant the Swainson's Hawks gather in large numbers to feast upon them. 

 This is one of the species also which frequently moves southward in large 

 straggling flocks during the fall, although it seems probable that many, 

 if not all, our common hawks frequently associate in flocks during migra- 

 tion. 



The eggs are from two to four, their ground color greenish white to 

 yellowish white, commonly spotted with different shades of brown and gray, 

 but not often heavily marked. They average 2.23 by 1.73 inches. 



