BIRDS OF PREY 



139 



on the wing, they have a steadiness of flight unlike the 

 bullet-like dash of some of the hawks, and more closely 

 resembling the flight of the gulls. 

 Their call is a high-keyed whi>stle, 

 which falls three tones in a plaintive 

 minor key. Besides this, they utter a 

 sharp, short squeak when darting down 

 to seize their prey. Aside from tlic fact 

 of his beauty and grace, the food of 

 the White-tail is such as to 

 render him beneficial to farmers, 

 and he should be protected by 

 law fully as much as the game 

 and song birds. Lizards, frogs, 

 snakes, grasshoppers, and 

 beetles are his bill of fare, and 

 these he consumes in great num- 

 bers. Small birds do not fear 

 him as they do the bird-eating 

 species, and this alone is proof tiiat he docs not molest 

 them. 



328. WlIITK-TAILKD KiTK. 

 " Preying upon the field wuVf." 



331. M A RS n H AW K . — ( V/r//.v hndsoiiius. 

 Family: The Falcons, Hawks, l'.,a<rk>s, etc. 



Lc.vqth: 19.50-24.00. 



Jdidt Midc: 81ate-LM)lor stivakcil with wliitf ; imilcr jKirts and nimi) 



pure white; breast and sides lightly s|)('ckled with reddish brown ; 



tail with alternate Itandsof brown und black, six or seven in number ; 



tips of wini^s black. 

 Ailnlt FcmaJr, and Younij : Husty, more or less streaked with black. 

 IhYumii Yoanrj : Rusty bull" above, more or less washed with gray, and 



merging to whitish on lower parts. 



