64 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



the " hammock " as a feeding station ; to these 

 spots the delicacies are carried, the snail dex- 

 terously removed from its armor, and the empty 

 shell left with others. Amid the wastes of saw- 

 grass, palmetto, and cypress, inhabited only by 

 a remnant of the Seminole tribe of Indians, may 

 be found heaped-up mounds of these empty 

 shells. 



On the corduroy road built by General Taylor 

 during the Seminole war and which extends into 



the almost impassable area of the 'glades west 

 of where the town of Palm Beach now stands, I 

 found several of these curious shell mounds, but 

 I saw only one pair of birds. They were very 

 tame, permitting me to approach within thirty 

 feet before they left their perch in a cypress 

 and swept out over the " prairies." Their flight 

 was like that of the Marsh Hawk and the simi- 

 larity was accentuated by the white band at base 

 of the tail, R. I. Brasher. 



MARSH HAWK 

 Circus Hudson 



A. O. U. Number 331 



Harrier ; Marsh Harrier ; Blue 



ius ( LiiUKCUs) 



See Color Plates 43, 48 



Other Names. 



Hawk (aduhj ; Mouse Hawk; Frog Hawk; Bog- 

 trotter ; White-rumped Hawk. 



General Description. — Length, 19 inches; spread of 

 wings, 45 to 5J inches. Males have the fore and upper 

 parts light ashy, and abdomen white ; females are dark 

 umber-brown above, and brownish-white below. Both 

 sexes have the face encircled with an imperfect ruflf, 

 somewhat as in the Owls. 



Color. — Adult Male: In perfect feather, head, 

 neck, breast and upper parts, pale light ashy ; rest of 

 under parts, pure white with a few drop-shaped rusty 

 spots ; in most specimens there is a dusky wash on 

 back, shoulders, and secondaries ; five outer primaries, 

 blackish ; all primaries and secondaries with large white 

 areas at base of iimer webs; tail, bluish-ash banded with 



5 or 6 obscure dusky bars, the terminal one darkest, 

 and mottled with white at base of feathers; ufpcr tail- 

 covcrts, pure white. Adult Female : Upper parts, 

 dark umber-brown ; feathers of head and neck edged 

 laterally with yellowish-rufous ; lores, line over and 

 line below eye, dull yellowish-white with a dusky stripe 

 between them running back from the rear angle of the 

 eye; lesser wing-coverts, indented with pale rufous; 

 tail, deep umber crossed by 6 or 7 regular but obscure 

 bands of blackish, the lateral feathers being lighter; 

 sides of head, dull rufous faintly streaked with dark 

 brown ; the facial disk, pale cream color also streaked 

 with dark brown ; chin and throat, plain dull yellowish- 

 white ; beneath, variable shades of dull white to brown- 

 ish-yellow, thickly streaked with broad longitudinal 

 stripes of dark umber-brown more numerous laterally; 



l-'hotograph by A. A. Alien 



A MALE MARSH HAWK AT ITS NEST IN THE MARSHES 



