120 HAWKS. 



the Red-slioulder, and is equally deserving of protec- 

 tion, lie is larger than the Red-shoulder, whom he re- 

 senii)les in hal)its, and has a reddish 

 ^ytr^^ll^^^^' brown tail and a broken l)lack band 

 across the breast when adult. His call 

 is a thin, long-drawn, wheezy whistle, which reminds one 

 of the sound produced by escaping steam. 



The Marsh Hawk courses to and fro over field and 



meadow, like a Gull over the water. He never sails, 



Marsh Hawk, however, but on firm wing flies easily 



Circus hudsonius. and graccfully, ever on the watch for 



Plate x\ . prey in the grasses below. He may 



sometimes mistake birds for mice, but he captures far 



more of the latter than of the former, and only 7 of the 



124 Marsh Hawks whose stomachs were examined by 



Dr. Fisher had eaten chickens. 



The Marsh Hawk is migratory, and in winter is not 

 often found north of southern Connecticut. He nests 

 later than the resident Hawks, and, unlike them, builds 

 his nest of grasses on the ground in the marshes, laying 

 from four to six dull white or bluish white eggs early 

 in May. 



The Sparrow Hawk has a perfectly clean record, 

 as far as chickens go, not one of the 320 whose stomachs 

 Sparrow Hawk, ^^^^'^ examined by Dr. Fisher, having 

 Faico .'^parvcrii/s. partaken of poultry, while no less than 

 Plate XVI. 215 had eaten bisects, and 89 had cap- 



tured mice. Grasshoppers are tlie Sparrow Hawk's chief 

 food, and we may often see him hovering over the fields 

 with rapidly moving wings. Then, dropping lightly down 

 on some unsuspected victim below, he returns to the bare 

 limb or stul) he uses for a lookout station, uttering an 

 exultant Hlli/ — I'tHf/ — Av7/// as he flies. 



The Sparrow is distributed throughout the greater 

 part of IS^orth America, but in winter is not found north 



