General 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 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 
Dutcher, New York City. 2 This is the same specimen described above by Mr, Brewster,— E ds. 
uk X.Jan, 1893. p.83-84. 
General Notes. 
§3 
The Calais bird above mentioned was shot by a countryman and brought 
into town with some Ruffed Grouse. After passing successively through 
the hands of a provision dealer, who bought it of the countryman, of a 
lady (a Mrs. Ryder), who bought it of the provision dealer, and of a local 
taxidermist, by whom it was received and mounted October 10, it found a 
final and appropriate resting place in the well-known collection of Mr. 
George A. Boardman to whom I am indebted for these facts as well as for 
the following description of the specimen : ‘ ‘It is a youngbird of unknown 
sex. The back is black with many of the feathers bordered with yel- 
lowish ; the tail lighter than the back with about a dozen black bars ; the 
head, neck, and lower parts fine, delicate yellowish, the feathers of the 
head and neck striped with black; the breast spotted coarsely along its 
sides, more finely across the middle, with black. The throat and tail 
coverts are yellowish white. Ben'eath the chin black markings, arranged 
in series, form a distinct mustache. With its generally ochraceous ground 
color and bold dark markings the bird is a strikingly handsome spec- 
imen.” There are two known instances of the previous occurrence of 
this species in Maine, at Gouldsboro, Sept. 15, 1886 (Brewster, Auk IV, 
April, 1887, p. 160), and at Glenburn near Bangor, May 19, 1888 (id., 
ibid . , V, Oct., 1888, p. 424). 
In this connection it may be worth while to mention still another Eastern 
specimen of Swainson’s Hawk which is preserved in the Greene Smith 
collection of mounted birds. 1 This specimen, so the label states, was 
killed in Onondaga County, New York, in October, 1877, and was 
“presented [to Mr. Smith] by T. Bex and Ed. Lodder of Syracuse.” It is 
a young bird, of the light or normal phase, in fresh autumnal plumage. 
So far as I know, it has never'previously been recorded.— William Brew- 
ster, Cambridge , Mass. 1 Lately given by Mrs. Smith to the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 
uk X, Jan . 1893 . p,»Si-83. 
