The Swainson Hawk 



Manitoba, south to Chile and Argentina. Winters chiefly south of the United States, 

 but also irregularly northward to South Dakota and western Washington. 



Distribution in California. — Common migrant, sporadically abundant through- 

 out the State, save in humid coast belt. Common summer resident in Lower and 

 Upper Sonoran zones both east and west of the Sierras but less common on the south- 

 eastern deserts. Less common and probably breeding in more open situations of 

 Transition zone, and a frequent invader, at the close of the breeding season, of Canadian 

 zone. Not found in winter. 



Authorities. — Gambel (Bitteo swainsoni), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. 

 hi., 1846, p. 45 (Calif.); Cones, Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 355 (syn. ; desc; crit.; 

 habits, etc.); Sharp. Condor, vol. iv., 1902, p. 116 (San Diego Co.; nesting habits, etc.). 



ALL THE LEFT-OVER Hawks are Swainsons. That is, if it hasn't 

 a red tail (B. b. calurus), or an especially long tail {Circus cyaneus hud- 

 sonius), and if it isn't conspicuously black-and-white barred above (B. I. 

 elegans), or below (Accipiter cooperi), and if, and if, and if — why, then, it 

 must be a Swainson Hawk. And at that you'll never know for sure that 

 you hav'n't a young Redtail or an undersized Ferruginous Rough-leg. 

 Knowledge of the Swainson Hawk, therefore, must always be founded on 

 gun-work and maintained by the exercise of that sixth sense, instinct, 

 which comes in varying degrees to veteran ornithologists. Fortunately, 

 two elements of relief are vouchsafed us. The Swainson Hawk is never 

 here in winter (if it is, ship the specimen forthwith to the Museum of 

 Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, or to the International Museum of Com- 

 parative Oology, Santa Barbara), and it has what looks like a white rump. 



Taken in San Luis Obispo County 

 169O 



SWAINSONIA 



Photo by the Author 



