THE SWAINSON HAWK. 509 
2.45 (62.2). Adult female, length: 20.50-22.00 (520.7-558.8) ; extent 50.00-56.00 
(1270-1422.4) ; wing 16.00 (406.4) ; tail 9.50 (241.3). 
Recognition Marks.—Crow size; white throat; chestnut pectoral band of 
male, dark chestnut and blackish of underparts in common melanistic plumage ; 
usually displays whitish rump; tail shorter and all proportions stouter as compared 
with Marsh Hawk (which also has white rump) ; less stout and without red tail 
as distinguished from B. borealis calurus. 
Nesting.—Nest: a stout platform of sticks lined with bark-strips and fresh 
leaves, placed at moderate heights in deciduous trees, sometimes on cliffs, rarely on 
ground. Occasionally an old nest of Crow or Magpie is refitted. Eggs: 1-4, 
usually 2, pale greenish-, bluish-, or grayish-white, sometimes tinged or obscurely 
spotted, rarely blotched with dull rufous. Av. size, 2.28x1.74 (57.9 x 44.2). 
Season: May 1o-June 1; one brood. 
General Range.—Western North America, from Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkan- 
sas, and Texas to the Pacific coast; north to the Arctic regions, and south to 
Argentine Republic. Casual east to Maine and Massachusetts. Breeds nearly 
thruout its North American range. 
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident east of Cascades; less 
common resident and migrant on West-side. 
Authorities.—Brewster, B. N..O. C. VII. Oct. 1882, p. 227. Ra. D2. J. E. 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) P'. Prov. E. 
SWAINSON’S HAWK, nowhere common, is still the commonest 
Buteo in Washington. Its plumage is subject to considerable variation; so 
much so, indeed, that the bird is best defined by habit and action, and known 
to the amateur as mot red-tailed and not long-tailed, ergo, Swainson’s. This 
Buzzard is typically a bird of the prairies, being found from the eastern edge 
of the Great Plains west to the Pacific Coast. It is not found commonly 
in the mountains, but does appear occasionally about the open places of the 
West-side, where it undoubtedly breeds. 
Altho a prairie bird, Swainson’s is a little heavy on the wing. When he 
flaps he does so with exaggerated zeal, as tho to prove ability in a little wonted 
exercise; but as a sailor, or perhaps one should say sailer, he is a past master. 
He leans hard upon the breeze, and it carries him whithersoever he will. He 
travels without propulsion other than that of the wind, for he has learned to 
balance gravity against wind-thrust in a fashion which not even the Wright 
Brothers have yet attained. But because the plains are large and its land- 
marks few, the Swainson Hawk is not infrequently seen at rest, upon a fence- 
post by the roadside, on a tall sage-bush, or upon a willow by the river’s brink. 
In the wooded country they are seldom seen a-wing, and evidently spend much 
time studying the ground from the vantage point of tree-tops or commanding 
limbs. 
Of course the bird has won the highly distinctive name of “Hen Hawk,” 
because he looks as if he might carry off a hen. But as matter of fact, he 
wouldn’t. He is content with far humbler quarry, such as mice, moles, 
