152 LAND BIRDS 



second and a third course in surprisingly few minutes. 

 Anyone who cares to watch will probably find that sixty 

 gophers to each dozen hawks each day, besides countless 

 insects and grasshoppers, is a fair estimate. Small birds 

 they do not harm. If any proof of this were needed, the 

 song birds themselves furnish it every season by building 

 their nests fearlessly in the same tree, and not seldom 

 within ten inches of that of the hawk. Arkansas king- 

 birds, shrikes, and bullock orioles have all been found, by 

 Captain Bendire, rearing their young close to the young 

 hawks, and a veritably happy family they are. 



The hawk's nest is large and slovenly, a mere platform 

 of sticks, placed indiscriminately in a low bush or a tall 

 tree, and lined with green leaves and corn husks. 

 Equally indifferent is he as to the location ; for he is 

 content on a grassy prairie where there are few trees, or 

 in the timbered districts. The only requirements for his 

 home seem to be food and water, — the last for bathing 

 as well as drinking, for, like all birds of prey, Swain- 

 son's Hawk is an enthusiastic splasher. Early every 

 morning he flies down to his favorite pond or stream, and 

 sends a shower of sparkling drops in every direction. 

 It is a very wet, bedraggled-looking bird that, a few 

 moments later, flies up to a sunny perch to shake him- 

 self and preen his feathers. 



His hunting is mostly done on the ground ; after his 

 young are fledged, you may see them jumping with raised 

 wings through the grass in brisk pursuit of crickets and 

 grasshoppers. This they learn to do by imitating the par- 

 ent, and it is probably their first lesson in pursuing prey. 



