252 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



below cinnamon-buff, except for foreneck and extreme upper breast 

 which are fuscous-brown ; sides streaked with dark brown to rufous ; 

 under wing surface strongly barred with grayish brown. 



Immature, like female but browner. 



Migrant from the north. Tolerably common; found on open 

 lands from sea level to the slopes of the higher mountains. 



Fig. 45. — Marsh hawk, gavilan sabanero, Circus cyaneus hiidsonius. 



Present from late October to April. Early dates of arrival: Oc- 

 tober 16, 1929, Perme, San Bias (Griscom, Bull, Mus. Comp. Zool., 

 vol. 72, 1932, p. 316) ; October 21, 1935, Puerto Obaldia, San 

 Bias (specimen in Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 

 taken by Wedel) ; October 20, 1961, near Penonome, Cocle (Loftin, 

 Carib. Journ. Sci. 1963, p. 64) ; October 26, 1927, Cocoplum, Bocas 

 del Toro (Chapman, Auk, 1931, p. 120). Late dates of departure: 

 April 4, 1948, near Chico, Panama; Balboa, C. Z., April 10, 1942 

 (T. Imhof, field notes) ; Canal Zone, April 18, 1911 (Jewel, Auk, 

 1913, p. 426) ; April 27, 1949, Pacora, Panama. 



There is record of one banded as a nestling in Kansas on June 

 15, 1951, that was taken in southern Los Santos, near Tonosi, on 

 December 3, 1953. 



Usually the marsh hawk is seen in graceful flight low over open 

 fields or grassy marshes, where it quarters the ground in search of 

 the mice, small birds, and lizards on which it feeds. At any move- 



