268 Natural History Bulletin. 



A third stage is characterized by having the head above, and 

 back as before, chin and throat white; breast with round, 

 black spots; tail feathers with terminal portion of white shaft- 

 lines interrupted by black bars; quills of rectrices black for 

 basal two-thirds, contrasting sharply with white central por- 

 tion, which is itself bordered by a sharp longitudinal stripe of 

 black. External tail-feathers nearly pure white. 



From this stage to the adult, there is a gradual obliteration 

 of the clear rufous top of the head by small black and ochra- 

 ceous bars; the feathers of the back lose their white shaft- 

 lines, becoming barred with black and ochraceous. The 

 central rectrices become lengthened and linear, and all the 

 tail feathers assume a barred pattern of dusky and ochraceous 

 brown. The original ochraceous blotches on outer web of 

 primaries become more restricted and sharply defined, and 

 assume a pure white color. These birds, when young, inva- 

 riabl}^ take to the trees when hard pressed. 



Twenty-three speciiuens secured. 



Order RAPTORES. Birds of Prey. 



Family falcunid^. Vultures, Falcons, Hawks, etc. 



Circus hudsonius (Linn.). Marsh Hawk, Abundant, 

 especially in the great marshes near the mouth of the Red 

 River, where dozens of these specimens were seen. Com- 

 mon, also, near a slough below Chemawawin, where I shot 

 three specimens and only secured one, a female which had 

 evidently been nesting, as its breast was almost bare of 

 feathers. 



Breeds within the Arctic Circle. (MacFarlane.) 



Hali^eetus leucocephalus (Linn.). Bald Eagle. Com- 

 mon in this region. One specimen, a "black eagle," was 

 secured from an Indian hunter. Two others were taken 

 from the nest by Messrs. Smith and Russell under circum- 

 stances involving a degree of pluck which I have seldom 

 seen surpassed. The ntst was discovered on the shore of 



