262 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Davenport Counties, Mont. [julv 



waft her." In thirty-six hours the hawk had returned to the fowls, but, 

 being anxious to avoid the necessity for injuring another of these fine 

 birds, we shut up the poultry with the result that in a few days the Gos- 

 hawk left in disgust. (Plate X.) 



65. Buteo borealis calurus. Western Red-tail. — Common. In ar- 

 rival and departure this handsome hawk coincides with B. swainsoni, 

 and it may therefore be said to reside here only for three months, the time 

 necessary to rear its progeny. Being seldom killed, this hawk is quite a 

 common bird, breeding throughout both counties, when it chooses an 

 inaccessible Cottonwood, the nest being placed as high as possible while 

 the thick foliage renders it all but invisible. I have thus been able to 

 follow the life history of these birds, and one pair nested for several years 

 about two miles north of my ranch in Custer County. I have never known 

 these hawks to have more than two nestlings and, in the case of two nests 

 at least, investigation showed that these were fed upon Meadowlarks, 

 cotton-tail rabbits, and snakes, provided chiefly by the male. Mr. Dan 

 Bowman and Mr. H. Tusler informed me that they took rattlesnakes but 

 in any case, no remains of poultry nor game birds were even found. 



66. Buteo borealis harlani. Harlan's Hawk. — Rare. A hawk of 

 this species was obtained in North Dakota in the spring of 1890 and iden- 

 tified by Drs. P. L. Sclater and Bowdler Sharpe. It is now in the British 

 Museum. I have since seen a similar hawk in Custer County, and one in 

 Dawson County on August 25, 1905. 



67. Buteo swainsoni. Swainson's Hawk. — Common. My first in- 

 troduction to these hawks was in April, 1890, when an extraordinary 

 invasion of them — probably nearly two thousand birds — alighted around 

 the ranch where I was staying on the west bank of the Powder River. 

 They came in the afternoon from a southerly direction and, for a time at 

 least, followed the downward course of the river, as a neighbor living 

 above reported the enormous hawk army which flew over. The wide 

 river bottom where the ranch is situated is thickly overgrown with cotton- 

 woods, and the fence of the saddle horse pasture all but joins the buildings. 

 When the last birds had arrived, the trees inside this pasture were simply 

 black with them; but as there appeared to be numbers beyond, I saddled 

 my horse in order to reconnoitre further. This precaution was necessary 

 on account of the Texan cattle herds outside the fence, which were quite 

 unaccustomed to seeing a pedestrian, and would either stampede or fol- 

 low him about with menacing demonstrations. Having ridden round the 

 fence I found that not only were the trees filled with clusters of buzzards, 

 but that the ground below was covered with them sitting in rows among 

 the cattle, the sight surpassing anything I had hitherto seen in bird life. 

 All were obviously worn out and appeared asleep; but those on the ground, 

 if closely approached, were not too tired to fly up and join their comrades 

 in the trees. In color, as far as could be determined, these buzzards ex- 

 hibited every shade of brown while some inclined to a more chestnut hue. 



