38 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [No. 7. 



and Temploa mountains and found it common all along the coast from 

 San Simeon to Santa Paula in November and December. 



Buteo lineatus elegans. Red-bellied Hawk. 



This species was observed mainly in the San Joaquin Valley, where 

 one Was seen near an irrigating ditch at Bakersfield, July 18, evidently 

 watching for frogs. At Visalia a fine adult was seen among the oaks, 

 July 22, and at the same place on September 17 and 18 the species 

 was not uncommon. Mr. Nelson reported it as abundant among the 

 oaks on Kings River at the base of the foothills in August, and saw it 

 near the Mission of Santa Ynez and in Gaviota Pass, in November. 



Buteo swainsoni. Swainson's Hawk. 



Swainson's hawk is apparently a rare species in the region traversed 

 by the expedition. Mr. Nelson saw a number on the western foothills 

 of the Sierra Nevada, and Dr. Merriam shot an adult male on Kern 

 Eiver near Kernville, June 23. Its stomach contained one grasshop- 

 per. Several were seen catching grasshoppers in the Canada de las 

 TJvas, California, June 28-29. At Walker Basin, California, Mr. 

 Bailey and the writer saw a number, and on July 15 the latter observer 

 killed an adult female whose stomach contained about fifty grasshop- 

 pers. In Walker Basin a species of grasshopper, which Prof. C. V. 

 Riley kindly identified for the writer as Gamnula pellucida, was very 

 abundant. In many places a large part of the vegetation ordinarily 

 available as food for these insects was dried up and had lost much of 

 its original nutritive properties, so they had to seek elsewhere for sub- 

 sistence. This they found in the form of fresh horse droppings which 

 were strewn along the roads and in the corrals. Wherever this sub- 

 stance occurred vast numbers of grasshoppers congregated in a strug- 

 gling mass, each individual striving to reach the interior of the throng 

 so as to partake of the food. Not only the hawks, but most other birds 

 in the valley, including ducks, ravens, woodpeckers, and sparrows, fed 

 almost exclusively on the grasshoppers. 



Archibuteo ferrugineus. Ferruginous Rough-leg. 



Very few squirrel hawks were seen by the expedition. Mr. Nelson 

 secured a specimen at Pahrump ranch, and saw others in Vegas and 

 Pahrump valleys and Vegas Wash, March 3-16. A few were seen at 

 Ash Meadows, Nevada, about the same time, but none were secured. 

 Dr. Merriam saw a pair circling over the summit of the highest peak 

 of Mount Magruder, Nevada, June 8, and several times afterward saw 

 them hunting in company in the nut pine groves of the same moun- 

 tains. 



Aquila chrysaetos. Golden Eagle. 



The golden eagle was observed sparingly in a number of widely sepa- 

 rated localities by different members of the expedition. One was seen 

 at Ash Meadows, Nevada, March 18, circling over a shallow pond in 

 which a large number of ducks were feeding. Mr. Nelson saw several 



