110 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



XXXIII.— MAKSH HAWK. 



Circus Jiudsonius (Linn.). 



. Resident; abundant. Begin laying about the first of 

 May. 



Habitat. The whole of iN'orth America; south in 

 winter to Panama, Bahamas and Cuba. 



Iris brown ; bill horn blue, light at base ; cere greenish 

 yellow; legs and feet yellow; claws black. 



This widely-distributed species (a sort of connecting 

 link between the Hawks and Owls) has been found breed- 

 ing as far north as Hudson's Bay and Alaska, and they no 

 doubt occasionally breed northward within their range. 

 I have found them breeding in Lower California, but south 

 of the United States and northern Mexico they are not 

 common, and as a rule only winter sojourners. The birds 

 frequent the lowlands and marshes, not from choice, I 

 imagine, but because the food they seek is the most abun- 

 dant there ; for they appear alike at home upon the plains, 

 in localities where the lizards and small rodents abound. 



Its flight is low and not swift, but very light and buoy- 

 ant, flapping and sailing as it courses over the ground, 

 often hovering with vibrating wings as it catches sight of 

 some unlucky rodent, lizard, frog or bird in the grass be- 

 neath; never giving chase, but dropping upon its prey, 

 and eating it where caught, unless in a very exposed situa- 

 tion, when it flies to a more secluded place upon the ground. 

 The birds often alight upon a fence post, but seldom in 

 trees, but I never saw one attempt to feed upon its prey 

 from a perch. In food habits they are not particular; a 

 sort of scavenger, that readily feeds upon the carcass of a 

 bird or fish — in fact, nothing seems to come amiss. 



