BIRDS OF PREY 151 
Nest: Made of sticks, sagebrush, and leaves; lined with green leaves 
and plant fibre ; from 20 to 50 feet high in trees, sometimes in bushes, 
sometimes on the ground, sometimes on ledges of rocky cliffs. 
Eggs: 1 to 4; pale greenish buffy, lightly spotted with shades of brown. 
Size 2.21 X 1.70. 
THRovuGHOOT the interior valleys of California, Swain- 
son's Hawk is a common spring and summer visitant, 
and one whose full value is not. yet so well 
known as it should be. Pocket gophers, 
ground squirrels, insects, ~ and grass- 
hoppers are its sole diet in . this dis- 
trict, and no one can com- 
pute the benefit that accrues 
to the farmer from the breed- 
ing of these hawks on or near 
theirland. Par- 
ticularly is this | *~ 
true of a sandy 
barren soil rh 
where gopher 8 
burrows are _ ~*~" 3 
numerous. Dozens of the ~ © 
hawks fly down to the go- . 
pher colony, just at dusk, 
; 342. SwAINsSON HAWK. 
and take up their stand at 
““ Wait silently until the prey appears.” 
the entrances of the bur- 
rows, where they wait patiently and silently until the prey 
appears. It never escapes them. If there are young hawks 
in the nest, the victim will be carried to them; if not, it 
will usually be eaten at the perch nearest to the hunting 
ground, In either case, back comes the hawk for a 
