140 



INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



dred insects — gnats, beetles, flies, ants and grasshoppers. Naturally 

 a bird with habits like the Nighthawk would never injure fruit or ber- 

 ries. Some people confound the Nighthawk with the Whippoorwill, 

 quite a diflferent bird. 



MARSH HAWK. 



Male and female quite dif- 

 ferent, both in size and color. 

 Adult male nineteen inches 

 long, grayish above, the tail 

 being barred with blackish ; 

 feathers above at base of tail 

 (upper tail coverts) conspicu- 

 ously white ; breast gray, fad- 

 ing into white on belly, 

 where brownish markings are 

 found. The adult female is 

 twenty-two inches long, dark 

 brown above, marked on 

 head and neck with reddish 

 brown ; upper tail coverts as 

 in male, conspicuously white ; 

 tail darker brown barred with 

 reddish brown ; breast buff, 

 the color fading on belly. 

 Nests on the ground in 

 marshes. This is pre-emi- 

 nently a bird of the meadows 

 and prairies, and is often seen skimming over the top of the marsh 

 grass hunting its food, at which time white of the upper tail coverts 

 is conspicuous. It eats field mice, squirrels, rabbits, grasshoppers, 

 frogs, reptiles, and occasionally small birds or poultry but not often. 

 The writer regards it as a useful bird to the agriculturist. Out of one 

 hundred and twenty-four stomachs examined by the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, seven contained poultry or game birds ; 

 thirty-four contained other birds ; fifty-seven contained mice ; twenty- 

 two contained other mammals; seven contained reptiles; two con- 

 tained frogs; fourteen contained insects; the contents of one were 

 undetermined, and eight were empty. Dr. B. H. Warren examined 



Fig. 134. — Marsh Hawks. After Ridgway, Bulle- 

 tin No. 3, Division of Ornithology and Mam- 

 malogy U. S. Dep. of Agriculture. 



