BIRDS OF KANSAS. 265 



not quick enough to catch the smaller birds. It is also quite 

 destructive to domestic fowls raised in or near the timber, but 

 does not appear to search for food far away from its natural 

 haunts. These birds are very noisy, and during the early breed- 

 ing season their loud, harsh "Kee-oo" is heard from the perch 

 and while in the air, often keeping up the cry for a long time 

 without intermission. 



In flight their movements are similar to the Red-tailed. They 

 seem to be greatly attached to the grounds selected for a home, 

 and vigilantly guard the same, . not allowing a bird of prey to 

 forage within their claimed limits; they also nest for years in 

 the same tree. I collected at Keosho Falls, Kansas, for several 

 successive years, a set of their eggs from a nest in the forks of 

 a medium-sized oak. In about nine days after each robbery, 

 the birds would commence laying again, and I allowed them to 

 hatch and rear their young. One winter during my absence 

 the tree was cut down; this did not discourage the birds or 

 cause them to forsake the place, for, on the approach of spring, 

 I found them building a nest not over ten rods from the old 

 one, but this time in a large sycamore, and beyond our reach. 

 The birds both assist in hatching and rearing the young, the 

 males being fully as attentive as their mates. 



Their nests are placed in the forks of branches of medium 

 sized trees, twenty to fifty feet from the ground, composed of 

 sticks and twigs, and sparingly lined with soft shippings of bark, 

 leaves, and a few feathers. Eggs three or four, 2.20x1.70; 

 bluish white, irregularly spotted and blotched with varying 

 shades of light to dark reddish brown; varying in form from 

 subsperical to oval. 



Buteo swainsoni BONAP. 



SWAINSON'S HAWK. 

 PLATE XVII. 



Resident; rare in eastern, common in the middle and western 

 portions of the State. Begin laying about the middle of May. 



B. 18, 19, 21, 28. R. 442. C. 523. G. 207, 124. U. 342. 



HABITAT. Western North America; east to Arkansas, Illinois 

 and Wisconsin (casually to Massachusetts); north to the Arctic 



