In North- West Canada. 81 



tre of the nest was hollow, caused by the weight of the live 

 eggs it contained. The eggs are plain bluish white without 

 markings, and measure about 1.85x1.40. Although I saw 

 marsh harriers every day, and at every place I stopped be- 

 tween Winnipeg and Rush Lake, their nests were hard to find, 

 owing to the birds being so wary, and as they make their 

 nests on the open prairie they can easily see objects approach- 

 ing and fly up off their nests while the intruder is some dis- 

 tance away. The marsh hawk is abundant in Miner county, 

 Dakota, and last season 1 received a number of sets from my 

 collector there, amongst them is a set of four eggs which are 

 well spotted with brown all over, this is the only set in whicli 

 the eggs have markings out of a series of over forty eggs, all 

 the rest are plain bluish or greenish white, but in some cases 

 the eggs are stained more or less. The usual number of eggs 

 found in one nest is five or six, although I have a clutch of 

 seven eggs that were collected in Manitoba, June 15th, 1890. 

 In the North-West the marsh harriers in Ijrown plumage are 

 much more numerous than those in blue plumage. In fact I 

 only saw five or six of the latter, although I must have seen 

 dozens in brown plumage. In some parts of Manitoba it is 

 impossible to walk a mile across the prairie without seeing one 

 or more marsh hawks, and in crossing over the prairie on the 

 railway, these species were frequently seen from the car win- 

 dows. The bird may be recognized at any reasonable distance 

 by its peculiar configuration, produced by the length of the 

 wings and tail, its easy sailing flight, the singular bluish and 

 white coloration of the adult male, and the conspicuous white 

 patch on the root of the tail of the female and young. 



The marsh harrier Ijelongs to the " ignoble " birds of the 

 falconers, but is neither a weakling nor a coward, as any one 

 may easily satisfy himself Ijy handling a winged bird. It 

 lacks the splendid action tliat insures success in the pursuit of 

 feathered game, to the dashing falcons and true hawks : Avith 

 all its stroke of wing, it acquires no such resistless impetus. 

 Audubon says that " it sometimes attacks partridges and plov- 

 ers," but its ordinary food consists of field mice, small reptiles, 

 F 



