BIRDS OF PREY 



151 



Nesl : Made of sticks, sagebrusli, and leaves ; lined with green leaves 

 and plant fibre ; from 20 to 60 feet high in trees, sometimes in bushes, 

 sometimes on the ground, sometimes on ledges of rocky cliSs. 



^ggs: 1 to 4 ; pale greenish huffy, lightly spotted with shades of brown. 

 Size 2.21 X 1.70. 



Throughout the interior valleys of California, Swain- 

 son's Hawk is a common spring and summer visitant, 



IS not yet so well 



Pocket gophers, 



imd grass- 



dis- 



and one whose full value 

 known as it should be. 

 ground squirrels, insects, 

 hoppers are its sole diet in 

 trict, and no one can com- 

 pute the benefit that accrues 

 to the farmer from the breed- 

 ing of these hawks on or near 

 their land. Par- ^=^^^(;^. 

 ticularly is this 

 true of a sandy 

 barren soil 

 where gopher 

 burrows are 

 numerous. Dozens of the 

 hawks fly down to the go- 

 pher colony, just at dusk, 

 and take up their stand at 

 the entrances of the bur- 

 rows, where they wait patiently and silently until the prey 

 appears. It never escapes them. If there are young hawks 

 in the nest, the victim will be carried to them ; if not, it 

 will usually be eaten at the perch nearest to the hunting 

 ground. In either case, back comes the hawk for a 



r-< 



„,.-, >■ '■'^'■■^^ 



342. SwAiNSON Hawk. 

 '• Wait silently until the prey appears.''^ 



