Oe*#ral Notes 
Swainson’s Hawk in the East. — Two records of the occurrence of this 
Western Buteo hundreds of miles east of the eastern boundary of its habi- 
tat have come to my notice through Mr. Geo. A. Boardman of Calais,. 
Maine, and Mr. L. S. Foster of New York City. Both individuals were 
immature birds, and were shot within six days of each other, although 
some hundreds of miles apart. It may be possible that a small eastward 
migration of this species took place in the early fall, and these records 
may be added to by the readers of ‘The Auk.’ Mr. Boardman says, 
“The Hawk is a young Swainson’s, a fine specimen, and was shot Oct. 6, 
within six miles of Calais. It is the first one I have ever known to occur 
here. It is now in my collection.” 2 
The New York specimen was shot by and is in the possession of Mr. 
W. Williams of Brooklyn, New York. It was examined and identified 
by Mr. Arthur H. Howell, who obtained the following information about 
the specimen: It was shot October 14, at Meadow Brook Farm, near 
Cornwall, New York. When first seen it was on the ground, but on 
approach flew to a fence near by. On being shot at, it flew with a steady 
but leisurely flight to a tree, when it allowed an approach within easy 
gunshot. While on the tree it exhibited no fear, merely turning its head 
to watch the movements of its capturer. Mr. Howell adds that the speci- 
men is a beautiful one, highly colored, and having considerable black on 
the under parts. The following measurements were taken from the 
mounted specimen : wing, between 18 and 19 inches; tarsus, 2 X inches, 
middle toe, i|; tail, 9. These large measurements would indicate it to 
be a female although the sex was not ascertained by dissection. — William 
Ddtcher, New York City. I 1 This is the same specimen described above by Mr, Brewster,— Eds. 
nk X, Jan, 1893. p.83-84. 
General Notes 
Some Additional Eastern Records of Swainson’s Hawk ( Buteo swain- 
soni ). — Proofs that Swainson’s Hawk visits New England at no very 
infrequent intervals and perhaps in some numbers, multiply steadily if 
slowly. I now have two fresh specimens to report; one killed at Essex, 
Massachusetts, May 29, 1892, the other near Calais, Maine, about October 
8, 1892. 
The Essex specimen was sent in the flesh to Mr. M. Abbott Frazar, 
who mounted it and afterwards sold it to me. It is a fine old bird, a 
female, in the melanistic phase, wholly dark colored (sooty or clove 
brown) both above and beneath, save on the bend of the wing, which is 
whitish, the under surface of the tail, which is banded with ashy white, 
and the under tail-coverts and crissum, which are soiled white with faint 
rusty and brownish markings. There is also a little half-concealed 
whitish on the forehead and chin and the feathers on the back are 
bordered with faded brown. Mr. Frazar, whose experience in such 
matters entitles his judgment to much weight, tells me that the ovaries 
were undeveloped and that the bird was evidently not in breeding condi- 
tion, a point of some importance in view of the date of its capture. Of 
the two Massachusetts specimens previously recorded, one (in the Peabody 
Museum) was taken in the winter of 1871-72 (Allen, Bull. Essex Inst., 
X, 1878, p. 22), the other (in the present writer’s collection) in September, 
1876, at Wayland (Brewster, Bull. N. O. C., Ill, Jan., 1878, p. 39). 
