"i,ii;; | CambroNi Notes on Swainson's Hawk. L73 



contained a Swainson's Hawk's nest. In one case a pair of these 

 birds had placed their nesl directly under and l>ut eight or nine 

 indies from thai of the hawk." Judging from my own observa- 

 tion, whenever these unlucky hawks lefl their nests they would be 

 remorselessly harried by the intrepid Arkansas Kingbirds. I have 

 Seen one of the latter strike down a young Sparrow Hawk on the 



wing, which I took home and kepi until it. had recovered. The 

 buzzard's peculiar flight upon catching the wind gives these small 

 tormentors their opportunity, as she mounts in slow graceful spirals 



until a mere speck in the blue. When his male was sitting, I have 



seen a male Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) alight on the hawk's 



hack and lie (allied round for several seconds, while he Vented his 



rage by pecking at her. No matter how high the hawk might 



soar, the small aggressor would keep akove her, renewing his 



attacks a1 intervals until both were lost to view. The hawk re- 

 sponded to each assault by merely uivin^' four sluggish, downward 

 Haps alter which she would sail on motionless wings as before. 

 These measured, floating gyrations, with wide expanded wings and 

 tail, induced Forster to call the Common Buzzard of Europe 

 .spiralis, as pointed out by Seebohm. 1 My brother-in-law once 

 informed me that he had seen a Swainson's Hawk strike in midair 

 an aggressive Kingbird which had thereupon fallen dead to the 

 ground. At the time this seemed to me an incredible assertion, 



and I supposed he had mistaken the species of hawk; but since 



witnessing the bunting flight, described later, I am inclined to 

 believe it . 



It was my desire to keep these young buzzards of I !)()!), in <on- 

 fineineni and make observations Upon them, more especially as 



regards the spring moult. Accordingly on Augusl <), I rode to 

 i he tree for t he purpose of capturing them, hi it when I was ascend- 

 ing it, they both took wing. The female fledgling flew some dis- 

 tance down the creek, )>nt fortunately the day was too calm for 

 her to rise again from the long grass, and the less active male 



fluttered into a deep water hole. While I was engaged in capturing 

 and securing the two fledglings in a sack, their distressed mother 



appeared on the scene, swooped towards me, or hovered above, 

 i British Hint-.. \,>i i. p. 121. 



