Part 11

Nests are placed high in deciduous trees.

=Swainson Hawk=: Buteo swainsoni Bonaparte.--This is a common summer resident in prairie grassland with open groves and scattered trees. Records of breeding are available from all parts of the State, but are least numerous from the southeastern quarter. Occurrence in time is listed in Table 11.

Breeding schedule.--Sixteen records of breeding span the period April 11 to June 10; the modal date for completion of clutches is April 25.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 2 eggs (2.4, 2-3; 5).

Nests are placed about 35 feet high, actually ranging from 12 to 75 feet, in cottonwood, elm, willow, and honey locust. Occasionally nests are placed on ledges in cliffs.

=Ferruginous Hawk=: Buteo regalis (Gray).--This is an uncommon resident in western Kansas, in grassland with scattered trees. Records of nesting and specimens taken in the breeding season come from Wallace, Hamilton, Gove, Logan, and Finney counties.

Breeding schedule.--Five records of breeding span the period March 11 to April 30.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is about 3 eggs (3.3, 3-4; 4).

Nests are placed on the ground surface on small cliffs or promontories or low (six to 10 feet) in small trees such as osage orange, cottonwood, and mulberry.

=Marsh Hawk=: Circus cyaneus hudsonius (Linnaeus).--This is a local resident in grassland throughout Kansas. Most records of breeding come from east of the Flint Hills, but it is not certain that the few records from the west actually reflect a low density of Marsh Hawks in that area.

Breeding schedule.--Sixteen records of breeding span the period April 11 to May 20; the modal date for egg-laying is May 5.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (5.2, 3-7; 14).

Nests are placed on the ground surface in grassy cover.

=Peregrine Falcon=: Falco peregrinus anatum Bonaparte.--This falcon nested, perhaps regularly but clearly in small numbers, in Kansas prior to the 20th Century. The best documented breeding occurrence was at Neosho Falls, Woodson County (Goss, 1891:283).

Breeding schedule.--Eggs were recorded as being laid in February and March.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 3 or 4 eggs (Davie, 1898).

Nests are placed relatively high on cliffs and in trees; at Neosho Falls these birds used open cavities 50 to 60 feet high in sycamores.

=Sparrow Hawk=: Falco sparverius sparverius Linnaeus.--This is a common resident throughout Kansas, in parkland and woodland edge.

Breeding schedule.--Thirteen records of egg-laying span the period March 21 to May 20; the modal date of laying is not evident in this sample but it probably falls around April 10.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.2, 3-5; 5).

Nests are placed in cavities about 16 feet high, actually 12 to 30 feet, in cottonwood, ash, maple, Purple Martin "houses," and human dwellings.

=Greater Prairie Chicken=: Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus (Brewster).--This is a locally common resident in eastern Kansas, in and about bluestem prairie grassland, and is local in the northwest in undisturbed plains grassland. Wolfe (1961) reports that the species was common in Decatur County shortly after the turn of the Century, but that it became rare by 1914.

Breeding schedule.--Twenty-one records of breeding span the period May 1 to June 10 (Fig. 3); the modal date for laying is May 5. The sample indicates an abrupt inception to laying of eggs, and this may be a reflection of timing characteristic of behavior at leks, or booming grounds.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is 12 eggs (11.7, 9-15; 17).

Nests are placed on the surface of the ground in bluestem grassland or plains bunchgrass, usually under cover of prairie grasses and forbs.

=Lesser Prairie Chicken=: Tympanuchus pallidicinctus (Ridgway).--This is a local resident in sandy grassland in southwestern Kansas. Distribution is to the west and south of Pawnee County.

Breeding schedule.--There is no information on timing of the breeding season in Kansas.

Number of eggs.--Clutch-size is thought to be near that of the Greater Prairie Chicken. Vic Housholder (MS) observed a hen with ten chicks ten miles south of Dodge City, Ford County, on June 1, 1955.