204 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



"The quarry of Swainson's Buzzard is of a very humble nature. 

 I never saw one swoop upon wild fowl or Grouse, and though they 

 strike rabbits, like the Red-tails, their prey is ordinarily nothing 

 larger than gophers. Though really strong and suflEioiently fierce 

 birds, they lack the ' snap' of the Ealcons and Asturs ; and I scarcely 

 think they are smart enough to catch birds very often. I saw one 

 make the attempt on a Lark Bunting. The Hawk poised in the air, 

 ^t a height of about twenty yards, for fully a minute, fell heavily, 

 with an awkward thrust of the talons — and missed. The little bird 

 slipped off, badly scared, no doubt, but unhurt, while the enemy 

 flapped away sulkily, very likely to prowl around a gopher-hole for 

 his dinner, or take potluck at grasshoppers." 



From the foregoing it will be seen that the home of Swainson's 

 Buzzard is on the prairies of the North- West, while in Ontario it is 

 •only a casual visitor. I first met with it at an agricultural fair in 

 Hamilton in 1865, where a young specimen was observed in a collec- 

 tion which was competing for a prize. Being called upon to name 

 the species to which it belonged, I turned to the works of reference 

 then available, and made it out to be Buteo bairdi (Hoy.), which is 

 now known to be the young of Buteo swainsoni. Since that time, I 

 have occasionally seen birds in similar plumage flying overhead, but 

 •did not again meet with it close enough for examination till the 

 present summer (1886), when I saw one in the hands of a local tax- 

 idermist, where it had been left to be "stuffed." It, too, was a 

 young bird, but in fine plumage, with the characteristic markings 

 fully displayed. 



When we have more naturalists among our sportsmen, such a bird 

 as this will be more frequently brought to light. At present, should 

 a hawk come along, when there is nothing better in sight, it is killed 

 in the interest of the game, but is seldom picked up. 



In Forest and Stream for December, 1888, Dr. Merriam gives a 

 most interesting account of a flock of this species which he saw 

 feeding on grasshoppers in Oregon. I have room only for a short 

 •extract, to show the influence these birds exercise in the interest 

 of the farmer : 



" One hundred and fifty hawks were counted, which did not 

 quite include all those present. We counted as many as thirteen 

 in one tree. Two of the three stomachs we examined contained 

 grasshoppers and nothing else ; the third contained, in addition to 

 grasshoppers, the head of a meadow mouse. One contained eighty- 

 eight grasshoppers, another ninety-six, and the third 106. Assuming 



