90 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



while in Florida, some years ago, repeatedly saw one of these birds 

 rob a Peregrine Falcon of Ducks which it had captured. This 

 appears almost incredible, but I was once quite near when the 

 Marsh Hawk took possession of the booty of the Falcon that was 

 sitting on the ground, and I distinctly saw the latter give up his 

 prey, almost without a struggle, to the venturesome Hawk which 

 coolly began to eat it, utterly disregarding the screams of the Falcon 

 that was darting about a few yards above him." 



I have often noticed, in a large colony of breeding terns, that 

 as soon as a marsh hawk appears on the scene their otherwise cease- 

 less din suddenly stops, every voice is still; the silence is so strik- 

 ing that we look up to see the cause, as thousands of white wings 

 are diving after him in an angry mob, and he is forced to beat a 

 hasty retreat. I have no evidence that the hawk ever molests the 

 terns. I have seen the same phenomenon in a densely populated 

 colony of yellow-headed blackbirds in a western slough. 



Lewis O. Shelley (1930) enjoyed an unusual experience in taming 

 some young marsh hawks that he raised from the nest, of which 

 he writes : 



They flew anywhere they wished and were always called by a whistling 

 note. They flew all about the village and to points a mile or more distant at 

 least, without harm by humans befalling them. Their maneuvers were at 

 once interesting and unbelievable at the same time to everybody, including 

 myself. That they became perfectly tame and came to me when called, was a 

 reaction considered remarliable in a wild raptorial bird. * * * 



During the fall migration, vireos, warblers, sparrows — many species — would 

 feed contentedly in the same tree, on the same limb, with one of the hawks. 

 I never saw an attempt of the hawks to molest them. Our own and the 

 neighboring hens became used to the hawks and did not become frightened 

 when they alighted in the henyards. * * * 



At any time when I wanted them to exhibit to visitors or for other reasons, 

 if within hearing distance they always came. If I merely whistled to answer 

 their common "contented" call they took it for what it meant and remained 

 where they were, often shifting their positions to be able to watch me. A 

 sharp whistle served as "mess-call" and was responded to promptly — quite so. 

 Perhaps the greatest thrill was in having them alight on my person, any- 

 where, at any time; to be able to handle them to my utmost content without 

 fear of injury; to call them when I left work at the store and have them 

 fly home with me for the evening meal. * * * 



As to sight and hearing, their instincts were unsurpassed. Any noise, 

 and a good many too slight to be detected by human ears, was noted instantly 

 with whatever reaction suited the case at hand. To illustrate the eyesight : 

 I once held an inch cube of meat in my finger tips over my head, uttering 

 no sound. A hawk perched in a tree about one hundred and fifty yards dis- 

 tant immediately rushed to me, eyes upon the tid-bit, and without slacking 

 speed perceptibly, grasped it with a downward lunge of one foot and wheeled 

 back to its perch triumphant. If a piece of meat about an incli square was 

 accidentally dropped in the tall herd's grass when flying to the woods, where 

 I, searching keenly, could not find it, the bird poised in mid-air above the 



