346 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
beautiful and often sublime flight. They frequently sail up- 
wards or forwards without moving the wings, generally doing 
so in circles. They usually pounce upon their prey from above, 
and often perch long to watch for it. 
The fish-hawks (IX). ‘* Plumage lacking aftershafts” and 
oily. Feet very large. See IX. 
I. CIRCUS 
(A) cyaneus (var. HUpsoNIUs). Marsh Hawk. American 
Harrier. 
(A common summer-resident throughout New England.) 
(a). Upper tail-coverts, white. Mature ¢, extreme length 
about eighteen inches. Above, bluish-gray, becoming white 
beneath; often marked with brown. Wings tipped with black. 
Q, extreme length about twenty inches. Upper parts, and 
streaks beneath, dark brown. Markings above, under parts, 
and bands on the tail, soft reddish-rusty. 
(b). The nest, composed of grasses or occasionally sticks, 
is built, unlike those of all our other hawks, upon the ground, 
usually in a meadow, or other wet place. The eggs, of which 
in Massachusetts four are laid about the tenth of May, average 
1°80 X 1°35 of an inch, and are white, often tinged with blue, 
and often marked with brown. 
(c). The Marsh Hawks are among the least ambitious of 
their family, for the most part contenting themselves with such 
humble prey as mice, snakes, or frogs, and remaining near the 
ground. ‘They may usually be seen flying low over meadows 
and fields, or wandering about the shores of some pond, but 
they also visit farms, and even molest poultry. Sometimes 
they beat about for their game; at other times they perch upon 
some fence to digest their last meal or to watch for another. 
They generally fly irregularly and leisurely, with intermittent 
sailing, up or down, to the right or left. But occasionally they 
mount higher, and sail about with ease; in autumn, when fol- 
lowing the migrations of smaller birds, they even pursue these 
on wing, and often with success. Customarily, however, they 
drop upon their prey on the ground, and, after hurriedly pois- 
