78 bullp:tin 16 7, united states national museum 



northwestern Florida (Wakulla Springs, and probably rarely 

 Waukeenah). 



The range as outlined is for the entire species. The North Ameri- 

 can form, R. s. plumbeus^ is probably confined to the peninsula of 

 Florida, Cuba, eastern Mexico, and Central America. 



3Iigration. — It appears likely that the everglade kite withdraws 

 slightly from the northern and southern limits of its range during 

 the winter seasons, but the extent of the movement is not known. 

 The species has been observed to arrive in the vicinity of Waukeenah, 

 Fla., on May 9, while in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, 

 Dr. Wetmore found them fairly common on October 28 and judged 

 that they had only recently returned from the north. 



Egg dates. — Florida: 68 records, February 15 to July 20; 34 

 records, March 13 to April 28. 



CIRCUS HUDSONIUS (Linnaeus) 



MAKSH HAWK 



HABITS 



The above name recalls to mind those delightful days, now long 

 past, when we sat for hours in a flimsy blind on the Cape Cod 

 marshes, listening for the startling whistle of the yellowlegs or the 

 mellow notes of the plover. The day is one of those lovely Indian 

 summer days; only a gentle breeze is stirring, and the autumn haze 

 softens the brilliant colors with which the waning summer has 

 painted the marsh vegetation and the distant woods. As we sit 

 there in the soft sunshine, dreamily drinking in the beauties of the 

 scene, our eyes are alert to what is going on around us. Off on the dis- 

 tant mud flats are flocks of gray and white gulls, with scattered 

 groups of shorebirds ; over the extensive salt marshes black terns are 

 winnowing the air, or plunging down into the grass for grasshoppers, 

 and numerous swallows, now nearly ready to migrate, are skimming 

 low over the meadows or the little pools; on a nearby sand flat 

 some turnstones are digging holes in the sand; occasionally a great 

 blue heron or a bittern flaps lazily over the marsh. There is always 

 something moving; and, whether the yellowlegs and plover come to 

 our decoys or not, we are sure to see, sooner or later, a dark speck 

 in the distance that soon develops into a large, long-tailed, long- 

 winged bird. On it comes with an easy gliding flight, its long 

 wings slanting upward; as it turns we see its brownish breast and 

 then its white rump, a young marsh hawk. A lazy, loafing, desultory 

 flight it seems, but really it is full of purpose, as it quarters low 

 over the ground in a systematic search for its prey. Often during 

 the day it circles near us, but not too near, for all hawks have learned 

 to avoid gunners. A peaceful day on the marshes would hardly 



