76 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



liiigc species of (Eflipoila, though a few belonged to the genus Cahtp- 

 terms. 



"Assuming that eaeh hawk captured 200 grasshoppers a day and 

 that there were 200 hawks, the daily catch would be 40,000 grasshop- 

 pers At this rate these hawks would destroy 280,000 grasshoppers in 

 a week and 1,200,000 in a mouth. 1 liave no means of knowing how 

 long the hawks remained in the neighborhood of Pendleton, but was 

 told that they had been there before our visit. When in southei-u 

 California about a month later I was told by Mr. Edward Merriam 

 that on three occasions he had noticed similar gatherings of hawks in 

 San Diego County. Once he saw a tiock of several hundred large 

 hawks catching crickets in cracked adobe soil in the San Marcos 

 Yalley. At night the hawks came into the live oaks at the head of the 

 valley to rest. He shot one and found its stomach packed full of large 

 black crickets. On two other occasions he saw large flocks of these 

 hawks similarly engaged in catcliing the same species of crickets. The 

 time was during the latter part of September. 



" Mr. Angel, of San Luis Obispo, Cal., told me that he once saw a large 

 number of large dark-colored hawks Hying about over the edge of a 

 prairie tire near Chico, in the Sacranu'uto Yalley. The air was full of 

 grasshoppers driven out of the grass by the fire, and the hawks were 

 catching and feeding upon tliem. 



"Mr. T. S. Pahner, of Berkeley, (.!al., has kindly furuislied me v.ith the 

 following interesting communication on a flock of hawks observed by 

 him at Pomona, Cal. : 'While spending the summer of 1887 at Pomona, 

 Los Angi'k^s C(mnty, Cal., I was much interested in a " flock" of hawks 

 which remained in the vicinity during the month of August. The fact 

 of their congregating in .such numbers may be attributed to two causes: 

 (1) Exceptional abundance of food in a i)articnlar sj)ot; and (2) the fact 

 that most of the birds were buteos {li.swainsoni predominating) which 

 were migrating slowly southward. 



" 'Their favorite resort was a sandy spot a mile east of the town, well 

 out in the middle of the valley and quite a distance from tlie neigh- 

 boring mountains. A single irrigating ditch su]>plied the only water 

 to be had, and to it all the birds in the vicinity were accustomed to 

 resort to drink. Pocky and dry as the spot was, it was si)arsely wooded 

 with sycamores and live oaks, and overgrown with white sage, cacti, 

 elderberry bushes, etc. About the first of the month the hawks became 

 common, aiul although at times scarcely any couhl be seen, a day or 

 two after they would be present in greater numbers than ever before. 

 On the 22d of August I succeeded in getting quite close to the flocks, 

 and counted fourteen hawks circling about together, much in the man- 

 ner of turkey buzzards, and not more than 50 or 75 yards from the 

 ground. Nearly all seemed to be young birds, chiefly Buteo h. calurus 

 and Bateoswainsoni, although there were several which I was unable to 

 identify. All were intently engaged in hunting, and T have little doubt 

 that tiicy were feeding on grassho])i}ers. 



