nothing more foolish or more prejudicial to their own interests than to allow 

 and encourage the slaughter of this innocent and highly useful member of the 

 agrarian police. A farmer would have as just cause to be indignant at some 

 interloper who shoots a Marsh Hawk on his premises as at another who breaks 

 up his gopher traps. 



As the breeding season approaches, the male Harrier, feeling the impulse 

 of the ennobling passion, mounts aloft and performs some astonishing aerial 

 evolutions for the delectation of his mate. He soars about at a great height 

 screaming like a Falcon, or he suddenly lets go and comes tumbling out of space 

 head over heels, only to pull up at a safe distance from the ground and listen to 

 the admiring shrieks at his spouse. At other times he flies across the marsh in 

 a course which would outline a gigantic saw, each of the descending parts done 

 in a somersault and accompanied by the screeching notes, which form the only 

 love song within the range of his limited vocal powers. This operation is not 

 necessary in order to win his mate, for he is supposed to have won her "for 

 keeps," but after all, it is well enough to remind her now and then that he is 

 a very good fellow, for she is a size larger than he and a little exacting in matters . 

 of courtesy. 



Not only are the Marsh Hawks wedded for life, but the male is very devoted 

 to his family. He assists in nest building, shares the duty of incubation, and is 

 assiduous in providing for his brooding mate. During the last week in April or 

 the first week of May a nesting site is selected, usually in the tall grass adjoining 

 a swamp. If the ground is wet, sticks are first laid down, but otherwise only 

 grass, dead leaves, and weed-stems, with a little hair and moss or feathers, are 

 used to build up a low platform, broad and slightly hollowed on top. Here four 

 or five eggs are commonly laid, but six is not unusual, and two sets of eight are 

 recorded, one from Washington and one from Iowa. In the former state I once 

 found a nest on the ground in a little opening of a poplar grove, the birds having 

 probably retired to the woods to avoid the winds prevalent at that season. 



Incubation is accomplished in about three weeks, or if it has commenced 

 with the laying of the first egg, as is often the case, then the last egg may not 

 hatch for a week longer. While the female is brooding the young, she is frequently 

 fed by the male from a considerable height. Mr. Lynds Jones relates one such 

 instance where an element of sportiveness seemed to enter in : "Once during 

 the breeding season I saw a male catch a large garter snake and Hy up with it 

 several hundred feet, and then drop it to the female who just then came flying 

 along near the ground ; she caught and carried it to the nest, followed by the 

 male." 



The young, after leaving the nest, hunt for several months with their parents, 

 and the last and costliest lesson which they learn is fear of man. If these 

 most excellent mousers had half the gratitude shown them which we manifest 

 to cats, they might be abundant where they are now rare. 



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