278 MARSH HAWK 



wsij with the level, rapid flight of one who has 

 many miles to travel for his meal — whose mind is 

 fixed on a distant goal. Flycatchers, Waxwings, 

 and Red-headed Woodpeckers, on the other hand, 

 make short parabolas, leaving their perches only 

 to seize the insects that happen by. The Spar- 

 rows and Wrens make short, labored flights from 

 one clump of weeds or bushes to another, using 

 their wings merely to transport them to neighbor- 

 ing feeding-grounds, never loitering in the air. 

 But the Swift, the Swallow, and the Nighthawk 

 have business in the air, and their flight is a 

 series of curves, zigzags, or other evolutions, as 

 they hunt back and forth, snapping up the insects 

 that are in the skies. The Kingbird and Spar- 

 row Hawk also have business in the air, but they 

 use it, not as a dining-table, but as a perch, hov- 

 ering on wing while they scrutinize the ground 

 beneath for their food. 



Marsh Hawk : Circus Imdsonius. 



(Plate XVII.) 



Geographic Distribution. — North America in general, south 

 to Panama. 



The female and young Marsh Hawks can 

 always be known as large, dark birds with white 

 at the base of the tail, for the round white spot 

 can be seen rods away as the Hawk slowly beats 

 over the face of the meadow in its search for 

 mice. The adult male is still more strikingly 



