120 



THE RAPTORIAL BIRDS OFIOWA 



Mr. Anderson mentions finding a "dead green snake about fifteen 

 inches long" which hung on a limb near a nest in which were three 

 eggs of this hawk. 



N. S. Goss in "History of the Birds of Kansas" says the food con- 

 sists of "rabbits, gophers, mice, lizards, young birds, etc," and of 

 grasshoppers, which are secured while in flight. 



Captain Charles Bendire says of Swainson's Hawk, "I cannot re- 

 call a single instance where one of these birds visited a poultry yard ; 

 and if other food is procurable it will seldom molest a bird of any 

 kind. From an economic point of view I consider it by far the most 

 useful and beneficial of all our hawks." The note has been described 

 as a frequently repeated "pi-tick, pi-tick." 



. 44. Map showing- the distribution in Iowa of Swainson's Hawk. 



