382 Cameron, Swainson's Hawk in Montana. [july 



myself, and the herd-boy above mentioned. The }'oung birds were 

 fed chiefly upon grasshoppers with occasional mice, frogs, and 

 snakes. Whenever my wife or I visited them their crops were 

 crammed with the first named. The herd-boy, who had the best 

 opportunities for observation, as much of his time was spent near 

 the nesting site, — told us that the female continually brought 

 frogs and occasionally snakes. He once saw her seize on the 

 ground, and bear to the eyrie, a Lark Bunting which she captured 

 by stooping from a height like a falcon. At this nest, during the 

 two years which we observed it, the above was (so far as we knew) 

 the only time that the young hawks were regaled with a feathered 

 prey. Unless I actually saw the parents bring food, I could only 

 infer its nature from the excretions and pellets, as nothing edible 

 was ever found in the nest. This was situated upon a creek with 

 many reed fringed, frog-haunted pools, and it was, therefore, natural 

 that next to grasshoppers the amphibians should be the most fre- 

 quent prey. The more shy male did not bring food so often as his 

 mate (at least when intruders were present), although I once flushed 

 him off the eggs. Swainson's Hawk is a voracious feeder, and on 

 June 27, 1S93, I shot a female of this species whose stomach con- 

 tained an entire Lark Bunting. Even the unfledged young will 

 swallow mice and frogs whole. Like its great cousin, the Golden 

 Eagle, this hawk is very partial .to snakes, but sometimes the snake 

 proves too much for its captor, as in the following instance kindly 

 narrated to me (in lit) by Mr. W. R. Felton — a civil engineer for 

 the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway. On August 31, 

 1910, his slowly moving freight wagons were winding up a trail by 

 the Little Dry River to another camp site. The instrument man, 

 Mr. M. II. Devine, brought up the rear about a mile behind the 

 van, when his attention was attracted to a large hawk which fell 

 swiftly through space to the ground apparently with a broken 

 wing. His curiosity being excited, he at once walked towards it, 

 but, when about sixty-five yards off the disabled hawk succeeding 

 in rising to a considerable height. As he watched it, to his great 

 surprise, the hawk again fell headlong, this time into the middle 

 of the river, impelled by some mysterious agency. The bird 

 managed to struggle to the bank, and upon being lifted front the 

 water was found to be a Swainson's Hawk with a garter snake 



