250 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



at one time late in the forenoon, several thousand hawks, Broad-wings mostly, 

 were in view. They came from a northeasterly direction. A constant stream, 

 very high up, could be seen for a long w^hile, and they were going in the 

 direction of the Delaware Water Gap. Over the valley to the S. W. the birds 

 seemed to collect into an immense flock, while hundreds, if not thousands, of 

 birds were gyrating around and around ; describing smaller and larger circles 

 in the air, in height of from, I should jiidge, GOO to 2000 ft. above the earth. 

 Most birds were Broad-wings. There were, however, other hawks, such as 

 Red-tails and Red-shoulders among them, while the Accipiter genus was repre- 

 sented by some Cooper's and more Sharp-shinned, which, however, were mostly 

 flying lower and took no part in the general evolution. 



Similar flights doubtless occur through the Middle West, but the 

 records are not so complete, and the birds are apparently more scat- 

 tered. Heavy flights occur in Texas, for George F. Simmons (1925) 

 noted on "November 10, 1918, 2000 in three connected flocks, moving 

 southward in teeth of norther, a steady stream passing over western 

 edge of Austin for about 20 minutes, sailing and circling in peculiar 

 gyrating motion, flying low, ever circling and circling, but always 

 leisurely along with the forward movement of the stream, the sky 

 seemed full of hawks." 



Dr. Roberts (1932) quotes the following from Frank Blair, super- 

 intendent of a State game farm in Minnesota, in regard to a big 

 flight that occurred on September 14, 1924 : 



The flight began at 4.30 P. M., coming from the north and moving southward. 

 They were flying high in the air. We estimated their numbers at six to seven 

 thousand. It took about twenty-five minutes for them to pass. When over the 

 Farm, some four or five hundred left the main flock and, descending in a rapid, 

 almost vertical plunge, alighted in trees about the Farm, remaining while the 

 others passed on. My assistants and myself shot 102 of these birds in about 

 four hours, but in the meantime twelve or fifteen young Pheasants had been 

 captured. The entire flock consisted of Broad-v\-ings and never before had I 

 seen anything like it. 



Philip A. DuMont (1935) witnessed in Louisa County, Iowa, on 

 September 23, 1934, a flight of some 400 individuals in a somewhat 

 different formation, of which he says: 



The behavior of these birds was of considerable interest to the writer. The 

 flock looked like a long, slightly weaving streamer, with the birds gliding along 

 on set wings, two or three abreast and in close foraiation, one behind the other. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Eastern North America, the Caribbean region, and north- 

 western South America. 



Breeding range. — The broad- winged hawk breeds north to cen- 

 tral Alberta (Belvedere, Edmonton, and Camrose) ; probably Sas- 

 katchewan (Hudson Bay Junction) ; Manitoba (probably Aweme, 

 Portage la Prairie, and Winnipeg) ; Ontario (Kenora, probably Lake 

 Seul, probably the mouth of the Pagwachuan River, and the Tima- 



