The Swainson Hawk 



Taken in Merced County 



innocently breasting the 

 wind in the vicinity of 

 the Tyrant's nest. 



In regions where the 

 bird is not much dis- 

 turbed, nesting is con- 

 ducted at any height. 

 A willow tree fifteen feet 

 high, or an ocatilla of 

 six, will do as well as 

 a sycamore of fifty. Un- 

 der persecution, how- 

 ever, the bird, according 

 to Mr. C. S. Sharp," 

 soon learns discretion 

 and places its nest 

 on tipmost limbs 

 or outermost 

 branches which 

 defy molestation. 

 The species is, 

 therefore, very 



adaptable in its requirements. In Arizona we found it nesting in the 

 thorny embrace of the giant cactus. Another observer, Lieutenant Ben- 

 son, found forty-one nests in a single season, all placed in mesquite trees 

 at heights of from 3 to 15 feet. Sharp finds them in western San Diego 

 County in tall sycamores, formerly occupied by the Red-bellied Hawk. 

 Sometimes, though rarely, they nest on rock ledges, or projections on the 

 face of earthy bluffs. At Goose Lake, in Modoc County, I found a nest 

 in which these birds evinced a proprietary interest, 100 feet up in a giant 

 yellow pine tree. The tree was 12 feet around at the base, and it was 25 

 feet to the first live limb. [Remarks made by the author on the 17th 

 day of June, upon the occasion of finding the nest still empty, have been 

 properly deleted by the censor.] 



The nesting platform is usually rather small for the size of the bird, 

 measuring, as it does, less than two feet in diameter by a foot, or such 

 a matter, in depth. It is composed entirely of sticks, but is lined afresh 

 each year with dried grass, bark-strips, or small leafy twigs. One seen in 

 a northern locality contained a quantity of the flowering twigs of a willow 

 (Salix amygdaloides) and had quite a pleasing appearance. 



The Hawks spend a good deal of time in the vicinity of their nests 



A FORMAL PROTEST 



Photo by the A ulhor 



'"Nesting of Swainson Hawk." Condor. Vol. IV.. Sept. 1902. p. 117 



1693 



