76 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Swainson's Hawk is a western bird which 

 occurs eastward occasionally, specimens having 

 been taken in many of the eastern States. In 



7 



Photo by S. A. Lottridge 



IMMATURE SWAINSON'S HAWK 



many cases where it has been reported, however, 

 this identification was probably incorrect. 



On the sage plains of Washington, Oregon, 

 and adjoining States the characteristic Hawk 

 is Swainson's. There it is very abundant. It 

 prefers the open prairies, coursing over these 

 uninhabited wastes with slow circling flight until 

 its quarry is sighted when it is transformed into 

 the quick alert hunter intent on securing the 

 prize. 



" Compared with the majority of our Hawks 

 it is gentle and unsuspicious in disposition, 

 living in perfect harmony with its smaller 

 neighbors. It is no unusual sight to find other 

 birds nesting in the same tree ; and the Arkansas 

 Kingbird goes even farther than this, sometimes 

 constructing its home under the nest of these 

 Hawks or in the sides of it. The food of Swain- 

 son's Hawk consists almost entirely of the 

 smaller rodents, principally striped gophers and 

 mice, as well as grasshoppers and the large black 

 cricket which is very common as well as destruc- 

 tive in certain seasons, and the bane of the 

 farmers in eastern Oregon, and other localities 

 in the Great Basin, destroying and eating up 

 ever}' green thing as they move along. I cannot 

 recall a single instance where one of these birds 

 visited a poultry yard. From an economic point 

 of view I consider it by far the most useful and 

 beneficial of all our Hawks." (Bendire.) 



The adult in normal plumage is likely to be 

 mistaken for the immature Red-tail or possibly 

 for the Red-shouldered Hawk, but it lacks the 

 rufous wing-coverts, and has a broad pectoral 

 hand of gray, brown, or cinnamon, separating the 

 white throat from the nearly white under parts. 

 The fact that this hawk has only three primaries 

 notched on the inner webs will separate it from 

 either the Red-tailed or the Red-shouldered 

 Hawk. 



BROAD-WINGED HAWK 

 Buteo platypterus ( J'ieillut) 



A. O. U. .Number 34J See Color Plate 48 



Other Name. — Broad-winged Buzzard. 



General Description. — Length: male, 14 inches; 

 female, 18 inches. Spread of wings, 33 to 38 inches. 

 Color above, dark brown ; below, white, barred and 

 streaked. Three outer primaries notched on inner 

 webs; wing never more than i3!/2 inches long. 



Color. — Crown, back of head, and nape, blackish- 



brown broken by dull rufous behind; back, shoulders, 

 and upper parts, dark grayish-brown, the feathers with 

 black shaft line and plain dark brown centers; pri- 

 maries and secondaries, deep dusky on outer webs and 

 at ends and barred with darker ; tail, similar to color 

 of back, crossed witli three narrow grayish-white bars ; 

 line back of eye and sides of head, grayish-white finely 



