THE CONDOR 
I Vol. IV 
1 16 
the same time with the other gold- 
finches. 
I have concluded from the foregoing 
that so-called aj'izono’ is only an ex- 
treme, and by no means uncommon, 
male plumage of the Arkansas Gold- 
finch, in which the black dorsal mark- 
ings become to a varying degree ex- 
tended. For this reason I included 
arizona in its various combinations 
among the synonyms of Astragalmus 
psaltria psaltria in the Checklist. This 
of course must be understood to apply 
only to California birds. The status of 
the psaltria group elsewhere may be 
entirely otherwise. There are no spec- 
imens at hand, so I have no means of 
knowing. 
Nesting of Swainson Hawk. 
BY C. S. SH.\RP, ESCONDIDO, CAE. 
T he Swainson hawk {Biiteo swain- 
so 7 ii) is one of the most interesting 
of our western raptores. Less 
well known, perhaps, because of its 
quiet and unassuming nature and its 
lack of propensity to wander but it is 
one of our most useful birds and well 
worthy of every protection from the 
naturalist and the farmer. Indeed there 
is no one of the raptorial group that is 
more generally beneficial, for its food 
supply consists wholly of those four- 
footed pests which every farmer and 
ranch man recognizes as among his 
worst enemies. 
Of the breeding hawks of this section 
although the only one that is not resi- 
dent, it is the most abundant, and seems 
to have become more so in recent years 
than formerly. Previous to 1897 it was 
quite scarce and I very seldom saw it 
although I frequently recognized it in 
descriptions by the small boys here, 
of a bird they called the “Mexican 
black hawk” or the “five dollar hawk” 
from the price of the eggs of that spec- 
ies in Lattin’s catalogue. Up to that 
time Buteo lineatiis elegaus was quite 
common but swainsoai seems to have 
taken its place to a large extent, and 
the former is now very scarce — so 
much so that when in 1896 there were 
four pair of birds breeding in a stretch 
of river timber of about two miles there 
is now only one. All the old nests are 
occupied by owls or the swaitisoiii. 
While Buteo borealis calurus is more 
common in the higher foothill country 
swainsoni .seems to prefer the lower 
levels and especially favors the fringe 
of sycamores and cottonwood trees 
along the rivers, becoming seemingly 
attached to a certain locality and re- 
turning to it year after year. Each 
pair of hawks seems to have its particu- 
lar hunting ground and they never 
stray far from home The appearance 
of a pair of these birds in the breeding 
season is a pretty certain indication 
that their nest is near. They are inde- 
fatiguable hunters and from their first 
arrival until their departure in the fall 
they may be constantly seen circling 
high in air or sailing low over fields 
and hillsides ever on the watch for 
some luckless squirrel or mouse that 
has wandered too far from protecting 
shelter. Of these and other four-footed 
pests of the farmer, with an occasional 
lizard or insect it makes its diet and is 
essentially not a “hen hawk.” 
It seems to have only a passing fancy 
for small birds and doubtless would not 
take them if other food were in plent3E 
This fact the small birds seem to under- 
stand and do not fear to build their 
nests in the same tree with them. I 
have found nests of Icterus bullocki, Col- 
aptes cafer collaris, Tyramuis verticalis, 
Zenaidura macroura and Carpodacus 
mexicanus frontalis all in the same tree 
with szvainso 7 ii and the nest of the 
saimy Carpodacus was snugly ensconced 
on the side of the latter. No other 
