J^ehrasha Ornithologists' Union 73 



38. Circus hudsonins (Linnaens) — Marsh Hawk. 



A pair of ]\Iarsli Hawks wore seen at the Reserve dur- 

 ing both years that I was there, and nested in the bottom 

 of a deep hollow a short distance back from the river. I 

 knew the nest to be situated somewhere in this particular 

 hollow, but I could never Hush the old birds from it and 

 they would not alight near it while 1 was in the neigh- 

 borhood, but would perch on nearby hilltops or fence 

 posts and watch my every movement, occasionally flying 

 over me with rapid "cac'-cac'-cac'-cac'— " but never giv- 

 ing me the least indication of the exact position of their 

 home. On June 20, 1912, I was watching the pair from 

 a distance when the female turned her course suddenly 

 and slanted downward to a part of the valley which I 

 had somehow overlooked during my explorations. I hur- 

 ried down the intervening slope and this time had no 

 difficulty in locating the nest on the ground in the middle 

 of a thick growth of SyuipJwricarpos. There was little 

 evidence of architectural ability apparent at the time; 

 the nest was a mere flat mound of sticks, matted with 

 excreta and having a few scattered bones and feathers 

 lying upon it, the feathers from the plumage of the old 

 birds and in all probability moulted rather than pur- 

 posely removed. Six yonng birds were present, five of 

 them Avell grown and hidden in the brush nearby, the 

 sixth but little larger than when hatched and lying in 

 the nest where it could do nothing but squirm and move 

 its head about when I would have touched it. The 

 healthy birds were beginning to develop quills and con- 

 tour feathers, the latter for the most part on the back of 

 the head where they formed a black, spike-like crescent 

 or crown which gave the youngsters a peculiarly vicious 

 appearance, especially when, on being approached, they 

 edged off, opened their beaks and hissed sharply. Mean- 

 while the old birds circled about with anxious calls and 

 began a series of downward swoops, shooting with great 

 velocity directly toward me and when within but a few 

 feet of me, turning and passing over my head at rather 

 close quarters. Later in the summer I saw the 3'oung 

 birds on the wing on numerous occasions, all of them re- 

 sembling their mother more or less in their plumage of 

 brown. The parents were seen all summer, hunting in 

 the hills and in the river valley and the male was flushed 



