234 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



at Chilliwack. I have no record from Vancouver Island. ■ {Fannin) 

 Only noticed west of the Coast Range ; rare. {Brooks) Hawks, 

 presumably of this species, were thrice seen in the British Columbia 

 interior. {Rhoads) 



342, Swainson's Buzzard. 



Buteo swainsoni. Bonap. 1838. 



Accidental' visitant ; rare. A few examples of this large hawk 

 have been shot at Montreal, Que. I saw a fine dark specimen 

 which was shot early in the spring of 1894 near the city, and was 

 stuffed by Mr. Bailly, taxidermist. {Wintle) Rare around 

 Toronto, Ont. I have two specimens taken at Toronto, Ont., 

 both in the dark plumage. {J. H. Fleming) This species arrives 

 on the southern prairie in March, and soon becomes abundant. 

 It is the characteristic hawk of the prairie, and is found in every 

 part of that extensive region. Although a prairie bird it ranges 

 ,in the valjey of the Mackenzie beyond the Arctic Circle, and has 

 been taken at Nulato on the Yukon. It is very rare in the Rocky 

 Mountains ; only one pair was seen in four months residence of 

 Mr. Spreadborough, at Banff, in 1891, and only one, a female, 

 was seen and killed at Revelstoke by him in 1890. 



On British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island. Nowhere 

 common. {Fannin) I once observed a flock of some hundreds, 

 all of the dark phase, at Chilliwack, B.C., and have seen young 

 birds in the autumn ; this dark form is a common breeder on all 

 the mountains, at high elevations, being only found in open or 

 park-like country. The only pair of white-breasted birds I ever 

 saw in British Columbia was breeding on a low mountain at 

 Vernon. {Brooks) 



Breeding Notes. — Thompson-Seton in " Birds of Manitoba," 

 on page 532, says : " The nest of this bird is not peculiar. I have 

 examined about fifty altogether, and have hitherto failed to find 

 one that answers the published descriptions, which credit the bird 

 with using a lining of hair and other fine material. All the nests 

 examined early in the season were merely masses of sticks and 

 twigs, with a slight hollow to contain the eggs, and had no special 

 lining. But nests examined after the growth of leaves — usually 

 about the end of May — were more or less lined with twigs plucked 

 with green leaves on them, and these when slightly wilted readily 

 flatten down and form a wind-proof screen. 



