222 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



sects, toads, snakes, etc., thereby rendering the 

 farmer a real service which he too long has over- 

 looked. Two or three varieties of Hawks, how- 

 ever, are poultry lovers, and will make consid- 

 erable inroads in the farmyard if their course is 

 not intercepted. 



The general makeup of the Hawks is quite 

 adapted to their needs as hunters. Their colors, 

 grays and browns, are unobtrusive, their strong 

 wings give them power of direct, swift flight, 

 and their talons and bills are just suited to their 

 uses. Nature has very well equipped these 

 birds for the methods they pursue. 



Marsh Hawk. This is the silver gray Hawk 

 with the white patch on the rump, seen so often 

 in summer flying low over the meadow^s, darting 

 and turning in a most erratic course in search 

 of mice and other dwellers in the thick grass. 

 Often when hunting he utters a shrill cry which 

 may be for the purpose of frightening small 

 creatures into sudden movements, thus be- 

 traying their presence to this sharp-eyed de- 

 stroyer. 



This is a large Hawk, nearly twenty inches in 

 length. The male, female and immature birds 

 all diflPer in coloring. His color is distinctly gray, 

 while theirs is quite brown. The upper parts and 

 breast of the male are gray with the tail coverts 

 white and black bars on the tail. The under 

 parts are white with brown spots and bars. 

 With the female the upper parts are dark brown, 

 streaked on head and neck with lighter brown. 

 Below the color is buflf, streaked with dark 

 brown. She, too, has a white patch on the 



