42 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



seasons, an early pair may occasionally begin laying during the latter part of 

 February. In the foothill regions the nests are often built in oak trees while in 

 the canyons the tall sycamores are more frequently utilized. The few pairs that 

 nest in the valley choose cottonwoods or eucalyptus for nesting sites. 



March 26, 1906, the writer secured a very nicely marked set of three eggs 

 from a nest forty-four feet up, in a large oak growing in the bed of Dry Creek, 

 below Academy. This nest was compactly made of large, dry, oak sticks, and the 

 lining consisted of the red inner bark of cottonwood, together with several 

 willow twigs to which were attached some very small green leaves. The three 

 eggs had been incubated a week or more. 



Another nest with three slightly incubated eggs was found March 21, 1907, 

 in a large sycamore, forty-six feet from the ground. There were no leaves in 

 this nest, but several bunches of green cottonwood berries were used instead. A 

 freshly killed meadowlark, from which nearly all the feathers had been stripped, 

 was found in the nest with the eggs. One of the birds was occupying her home 

 and may have been presented with this food by her mate. One nest examined 

 April 5, 1908, had for a lining several oak twigs with very small green leaves, 

 and the entire nest of a Bullock Oriole of the previous season's use. 



Nests of this hawk, especially when built in sycamores, are sometimes placed 

 from fifty to seventy-five feet from the ground, and are often rather difficult to 

 examine. In no case has either of the owners ever proven very demonstrative, 

 and their disapproval is usually expressed in the whistling scream that sounds 

 like the words "pee-yare," which is heard as the bird flaps around nearby or 

 perches on some neighboring tree. Personally, the writer has never found a nest 

 of this hawk that contained a complete set of more or less than three eggs, but 

 Mr. Chas. E. Jenney, who has been much afield along the San Joaquin River, 

 tells me that he has found sets of four almost as common as those of three. 



The only complaint that I have ever heard against the Western Red-tailed 

 Hawk is that during the months of September and October it occasionally ac- 

 quires a liking for chickens, but this is probably an individual characteristic rather 

 than one that can be charged to the species generally. On the whole, these big 

 hawks are of such service in destroying squirrels and gophers that they should be 

 protected, and encourged to nest about the farms, especially by those who can 

 endure the loss of an occasional well-earned chicken without becoming possessed 

 of a desire to kill the entire hawk tribe. 



SwAiNSON Hawk. Buteo swainsoni Bonaparte. 



This is another of our migrant hawks, but unlike most of the others it comes 

 to us early in the spring and departs at the close of its nesting season. I con- 

 sider this hawk, next to the Barn Owl, the most beneficial bird-of-prey occurring 

 in this district. It feeds almost exclusively upon mice and gophers, and I have 

 yet to find anyone to complain of its taking either chickens or any kind of wild 

 birds. 



I once saw half a dozen of these hawks sitting on fence posts watching for 

 mice. This was on a large wheat and stock ranch and not far from the ranch 

 house. I questioned the owner of this farm and he informed me that he allowed 

 the hawks to hunt undisturbed over his place, and that they sometimes nested 



