1918 I Camhbon, Swainson'a Hawk in Montana, .'IS',) 



head, neck and underparts became rich cream color. To be very 

 precise, the shade exactly matched the pale side of a Graham bis- 

 cuit as sold in cartons by grocers. The spots had all disappeared 

 excepting a lew arrow-heads and longitudinal bars on the upper 



breast, and some others on the sides which were mostly concealed 



by the wings. The upper parts appeared to he much lighter than 

 before, although the ground color was only a shade less dark than 

 the chocolate brown of the first plumage. This light effect was 

 produced by a border of white and chestnut, or white alone, which 

 replaced the tawny edgings to the feathers of the hack and whig 

 COVertS. Some of the secondaries were pure white. The crown, 

 titles and hack of the neck were streaked with the dorsal brown. 

 The underside of the wing was of three shades. From the wrist 

 downwards for five inches it was the cream color of the breast, 

 then became a silvery gray to the end of the secondaries (seven 

 inches more), which was merged into five inches of blackish brown 

 constituting the primary tips. The wings were thus seventeen 

 inches long, and extended for six eighths of an inch beyond the tail 



although in a wild example of the same age they exceeded it hy 

 one and one half inch. The tail leathers were all tipped with white, 

 the upper tail coverts being also of this color, variegated w it h mixed 

 brown ami chestnut bars. I am fully convinced that the young 

 bird from the Rocky Mountains (10, 761) described in North 

 American Birds, Vol. Ill, p. 264, also Buteo swainsoni, var. oxyp- 

 terus normal young plumage, p. 266-267 op. cit. of which an 

 illustration is given, are both examples of Swainson's Hawk in 

 the second plumage. In fact, the description of the young female 



var. oxypterus (33508) p. 367, would fit my tame bird after moult- 

 ing with but slight alteration. As t he spots of t he underparts may 

 or may not persist in the second plumage, they arc not to be relied 

 upon as an indication of age. 



I may here remark that my Swainson's Hawk in second plumage 

 bore a striking resemblance to a Western Red-tail of the same age 



(three of which I reared from two different ncsis) when both were 

 seen from behind. The only points of difference were in the brown 

 tail and nmeh shorter wings of the Red-tail, which undoubtedly 

 has four parallel plumage changes to />'. swainsoni before becoming 

 adult. 



