MAKSH HAWK 87 



tured to fly out, but mainly hovering over the bush about 10 feet up. 

 Eventually it swept down beyond the bush and secared its victim as 

 it tried to escape." 



Several observers have noted the interesting way in which the male 

 feeds his mate. C. L. Broley has sent me the following note on it : 

 "The male flies with the mouse near where the female may be nest- 

 ing and calls to her; upon which she takes to the air; and, flying 

 12 to 20 feet over his mate, the male drops the mouse. The female 

 either turns partly on her back and catches the mouse with her claws 

 or, as on one occasion, just swings her feet out to the side and 

 catches the mouse neatly. I have seen the male carry a mouse 15 

 minutes awaiting the return of his mate to present it to her. An- 

 other time the male became tired of waiting for her and ate half the 

 mouse but kept the other half till she returned." 



Eugene S. Kolfe (1897) noted the following interesting attempt 

 to secure a meal: "Many times I have watched the Marsh Hawk 

 sailing low and keenly scanning the ground on the open prairie, and 

 suddenly pouncing down and quickly ascending again with an empty 

 mouse nest in its talons, and on one occasion I followed behind 

 for fully 2 miles and in that distance it picked uj) and dropped 

 seven of these empty nests. On examination they proved to be sim- 

 ply wads of fine dried grasses, and it was easy to see that if these 

 had all chanced to be occupied by families of young mice, the foray 

 of that particular Hawk w^ould have been most fruitful in the de- 

 struction of these small pests." 



E. L. Sumner, Jr. (1931) witnessed a playful reaction of a marsh 

 hawk with a horned lark that it had captured : 



AH at once the liawk dropped the lark, whereupon the latter, still alive, 

 flew weakly to the ground about seven feet away, its captor with outstretched 

 talons hovering meanwhile about two and one-half feet above it but not pounc- 

 ing upon it. When the lark reached the ground, the hawk lit beside it, then 

 gave a little jump into the air and landed with spread talons upon its prey. 

 It seemed not to bite the lark, but after examining it with many twistings 

 and turnings of the head rose about three feet into the air with it, and then 

 dropped it again, the lark still fluttering, and pounced upon it just as before. 

 This the marsh hawk did seven or eight times, and I marveled at the clumsi- 

 ness of the bird until I realized what was going on — it was playing. 



At length the lark fluttered into a tangle of shrubby weeds, which circum- 

 stance seemed to furnish even more interest for the hawk. It would prance 

 about in the weeds, taking great high steps, and now and again bend down 

 to peer intently in at the lark. I do not think the hawk at any time really 

 lost its prey. This continued for about ten minutes from the time when I 

 had started to watch, after which the bird settled in a little depression with 

 its victim and was then out of sight. 



Behavior. — Much of this subject has already been covered under 

 other headings. The characteristic low flight, as it quarters over the 



