159 
FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 
342. Buteo swainsoni Bonap. Swainson Hawk. 
Adult male in normal plumage: throat and belly white, white of throat 
sharply contrasted with reddish brown chest band; upper parts nearly uni¬ 
form dark grayish brown ; tail crossed by 
about 9 or 10 narrow blackish bands. Adult 
female in normal plumage: like male, but 
chest patch grayish brown instead of rufous. 
Melanistic phase , both sexes: whole plumage 
uniform sooty brown, under tail coverts some¬ 
times spotted or barred with rusty or whitish. 
Every possible gradation is shown by different 
individuals between this black phase and the 
light colored normal plumage. Young: upper 
parts blackish brown varied with buflfy or yel¬ 
lowish brown; head, neck, and under parts 
huffy brown, head and neck streaked with 
blackish; under parts usually more or less 
blotched with blackish. Male: length 19.50- 
20.00, extent 48.00-50.50, wing 14.40-16.00, 
tail 8—9, bill .80—.90. Female: length 21—22, 
extent 50.50-56.00, wing 14.75-17.25, tail 9-10, 
bill .80-.95. 
Distribution. — From the arctic regions 
south to Argentina; in the United States 
from the Pacific to Wisconsin, Illinois, and 
Arkansas; casually to Massachusetts. Migratory north of South Dakota 
and Nebraska. 
Nest. — In cottonwoods and other trees, and also in bushes and on rocks, 
made of sagebrush, willow, or other sticks, lined largely with green leaves 
and bark. Eggs: 1 to 4, greenish white, fading to yellowish, spotted in¬ 
conspicuously with different shades of brown. 
Food. — Almost entirely small rodents, principally striped gophers and 
mice, together with grasshoppers and crickets. 
“ On the arid wastes and tablelands of southern Arizona, as well 
as in the sage and bunch grass districts of Nevada, Oregon, Washing¬ 
ton, and Idaho, Swainson’s hawk is especially abundant, outnumber¬ 
ing, perhaps, all the other Raptores of these regions combined. It is 
eminently a prairie bird, shunning the densely timbered mountain 
regions, and being more at home in the sparingly wooded localities 
usually found along the watercourses of the lowlands. 
“Compared with the majority of our hawks it is gentle and un¬ 
suspicious in disposition, living in perfect harmony with its smaller 
neighbors. It is no unusual sight to find other birds, . . . nesting 
in the same tree; and the Arkansas kingbird goes even farther than 
this, sometimes constructing its home . . . under the nest of these 
hawks or in the sides of it. . . . 
“The food of Swainson’s hawk consists almost entirely of the 
smaller rodents, principally striped gophers and mice, as well as grass¬ 
hoppers and the large black cricket, which is very common as well as 
destructive in certain seasons, and the bane of the farmers in eastern 
From Biological Survey, U. S. 
Dept, oi Agriculture. 
Fig. 230. 
