22G yORTII AMERICAN BIRDS. 



blackish brown, each feather tippod or bordered terminally with rusty or ochra- 

 ceous; heatl and neck streaked with the same; superciliary stripe and lower parts 

 ochi-accous (varying to buflPy whitish), spotted or striped with duskj-. Lenijth 

 16.00-18.00, extc'nt 44.00-46.00, wing 12.90-14.25, tail 7.20-8.50, eulmen 1.00-1.10. 

 Nest built on top of bushes or tall rank grasses in open marshes. J^ggs usually 2, 

 1.75 X 1-46, blotched, marbled, and stained with various shades of brown on a paler 

 (sometimes bluish white) ground-color. Hab. "Whole of tropical America, cxce]it 

 part of West Indies; south to Argentine Republic and Ecuador, north to Florida 

 and Atlantic coast of Mexico 3.30. R. sociabilis (Vieill.). Everglade Kite. 



Genus CIRCUS Lac£pede. (Page 222, pi. LXVII., fig. 1.) 



Sjjecies. 



Adult 7na!c : Head, neck, chest, and upper parts uniform light bluish gray, the 

 occiput darker and sti'eaked with whitish, tinged with rusty; longer quills blackish 

 toward tips; upper tail-coverts plain white; tail bluish gray, mottled with white 

 toward base, narrowly tipped with white, crossed near end by a broad blackish 

 band, and, anterior to this, by five to seven narrower and less distinct dusky 

 bands; the inner webs whitish, with the bands more distinct, and sometimes tinged 

 with rusty ; under surface of wing (except terminal third, or more, of quills), and 

 lower parts from breast backward, white, the larger under wing-coverts and lower 

 parts with more or less numerous transverse (usually cordate) spots of rusty or 

 brown. Adult female : Above dusky brown, tho head and neck streaked, the lesser 

 wing-coverts spotted, and feathers of rump edged, with rusty; upper tail-coverts 

 plain white ; tail brown, paler at tip, and crossed by six or seven very regular and 

 distinct bands of blackish ; the brownish spaces becoming gradually paler and more 

 rusty to outer feathers, which are more ochraceous; sides of head light dull huffy, 

 with a dusky stripe behind eye ; feathers of " facial disk" buff, each with a median 

 streak of dark brown; chin, throat, and lower parts generally, dull buff}' whitish, 

 varj-ing to deeper dull huffy, striped (except on chin and throat) with brown, the 

 stripes becoming gradually much narrower posteriorly. Young: Above blackish 

 brown, the head and nock streaked and lesser wing-coverts spotted with deep 

 rusty; upper tail-coverts white, tinged more or less with ochraceous; tail crossed 

 by four broad bands of black, the interspaces being dark brown on middle feathers, 

 changing gradually to ochraceous on outer feathers ; ear-coverts uniform rich dark 

 brown; feathers of "facial disk" dark brown, broadly edged with rufous; lower 

 ]iarts rich rust)' ochraceous, growing gradually paler posteriorly, the breast and 

 sides narrowly and (usuall}') indistinctlj' streaked with darker, but elsewhere im- 

 maculate. Doiony young: Entirely pale cinnamon-huffy, tinged with grayish on 

 back, and becoming almost white on lower parts. Length 19.50-21.00, wing 12.90- 

 16.00, tail 8.80-10.50, tarsus 2.85-3.25, middle too 1.20-1.55. Nest on ground, in 

 meadows, usually near ponds or marshes. Eggs 3-8, 1.81 X 1-41, white, or bluish 

 white, usually plain, but often more or less spotted or blotched with palo brown. 

 Hab. "Whole oi North America; south, in winter, to Panama, Bahamas, and Cuba. 



331. C, hudsonius (Linn.). Marsh Hawk. 



