440 



THE MARSH HA WK. 



marsh, being about as common here as on the salt marshes of 

 New Jersey. With long wings and tail, they always fly rather 

 low, often near the ground, and never very swiftly. Accus- 

 tomed to pass and repass while searching thoroughly a given 

 locality, they generally sail, with a few occasional strokes 

 of the wings to gain a new impulse. Either the clear bluish- 

 gray male, or the mottled and streaked reddish-brown female, 

 each having the conspicuous white spot on the rump, may 

 be readily recognized. When the mature male passes 

 over you, excepting a few dark markings near the throat or 

 breast and the black points of his wings, he appears almost 

 pure white. This species has indeed "a queer owlish physi- 

 ognomy, produced by the shape of the head, and especially 

 by the ruff of modified feathers, which in its higher develop- 

 ment is characteristic of the Strigidcn,'' or Owls 



The female is very noticeably larger than the male, being 

 some 20-21 inches in length, while the former is but 16-18 

 inches, and somehow appears more frequently, in migratory 

 periods at least, in the low flight which this bird makes in 

 search of its lowly prey of insects, mice, snakes, and frogs. 

 Of the latter. Circus is said to be especially fond, so that one 

 writer affirms that "these goggle-eyed and perspiring creat- 

 ures suffer more from the Harriers than from all the school 

 boys that ever stoned them of a Saturday afternoon." It 

 will readily be seen that this bill of fare necessarily attracts 

 them to marshes and bogs. In these "watery preserves" 

 they may not infrequently feast upon a Rail or a small 

 Wader. In every case, like the Buzzards in general, they 

 drop upon their prey and devour it on the spot, thus 

 differing greatly from the Falcons, which dash upon their 

 victims in the swiftest flight, and from many of the Rap- 

 tores^ which convey their prey to fancied places for con- 

 sumption. 



