226 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



blackish brown, each feather tipped or bordered terminally with rnsty or ochra- 

 ceous ; head and neck streaked with the same ; superciliary stripe and lower parts 

 ochraceous (varj-ing to buffy whitish), spotted or striped with dusky. Length 

 16.00-18.00, extent 44.00-46.00, wing 12.90-14.25, tail 7.20-8.50, culmen 1.00-1.10. 

 Nest built on top of bushes or tall rank grasses in open marshes. Eggs usually 2, 

 1.70 X 1-43, blotched, marbled, and stained with various shades of brown on a paler 

 (sometimes bluish white) ground-color. Hah. Whole of tropical America, except 

 part of West Indies ; south to Argentine Eepublic and Ecuador, north to Florida 

 and Atlantic coast of Mexico 330. R. sociabilis (Vieill.). Everglade Kite. 



Genus CIRCUS Lac^pede. (Page 222, pi. LXYII., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Adult male : Head, neck, chest, and upper parts uniform light bluish gray, the 

 occiput darker and streaked with whitish, tinged with rusty ; longer quills blackish 

 toward tips ; upper tail-coverts plain white ; tail bluish gray, mottled with white 

 toward base, narrowly tipped with white, crossed near end by a broad blackish 

 band, and, anterior to this, by five to seven narrower and less distinct dusky 

 bands ; the inner webs whitish, with the bands more distinct, and sometimes tinged 

 with rusty ; under surface of wing (except terminal third, or more, of quills), and 

 lower parts from breast backward, white, the larger under wing-coverts and lower 

 parts with more or less numerous transverse (usually cordate) spots of rusty or 

 brown. Adult female : Above dusky brown, the head and neck streaked, the lesser 

 wing-coverts spotted, and feathers of rump edged, with rusty ; upper tail-coverts 

 plain white; tail brown, paler at tip, and crossed by six or seven very regular and 

 distinct bands of blackish ; the brownish spaces becoming gradually paler and more 

 rusty to outer feathers, which are more ochraceous ; sides of head light dull buffy, 

 with a dusky stripe behind eye ; feathers of " facial disk" buff, each with a median 

 streak of dark brown ; chin, throat, and low^er parts generally, dull buffy whitish, 

 varjdng to deeper dull buffy, striped (except on chin and throat) with brown, the 

 stripes becoming gradually much narrower posteriorly. Young : Above blackish 

 brown, the head and neck streaked and lesser wing-eoverts spotted with deep 

 rusty; upper tail-coverts white, tinged more or less with ochraceous; tail crossed 

 b}'' four broad bands of black, the interspaces being dark brown on middle feathers, 

 changing gradually to ochraceous on outer feathers ; ear-coverts uniform rich dark 

 brown ; feathers of " facial disk" dark brown, broadly edged with rufous ; lower 

 parts rich rusty ochraceous, growing gradually paler posteriorly, the breast and 

 sides narrowly and (usually) indistinctly streaked with darker, but elsewhere im- 

 maculate. Downy young : Entirely pale cinnamon-buffj^, tinged with grayish on 

 back, and becoming almost white on lower parts. Length 19.50-24.00, wing 12.90- 

 16.00, tail 8.80-10.50, tarsus 2.85-3.25, middle toe 1.20-1.55. Nest on ground, in 

 meadows, usually near ponds or marshes. Eggs 3-8, 1.80 X 1-41, white, or bluish 

 white, usually plain, but often more or less spotted or blotched with pale brown. 

 Hab. Whole of North America; south, in winter, to Panama, Bahamas, and Cuba. 



331. C. hudsonius (Linn.). Marsh Hawk. 



