200 



MARSH HAWK 

 331. Circus hudsonius. 19 in. 



Upper tail coverts and base of tail white. Male, 

 blue-gray above; below whitish, streaked and barred 

 with rusty. Female and young. Above rusty brown- 

 ish-black; below rusty with dusky streaks on the breast 

 and sides. As shown by its name, this hawk is found 

 most abundantly in or around marshes or wet meadows. 

 I have found them especially abundant in boggy marshes 

 such as frequented by bitterns. Their flight is quiet 

 and owl-like, and as they do most of their feeding 

 toward dusk, they often seem like owls as they flit 

 v without a sound. Their food is composed chiefly of 

 neadow mice and moles, which they spy and dash 

 own upon as they fly* at low elevations. 



Notes. A shrill whistle when their nest is ap- 

 iroached. 



Nest. Of grasses, on the ground in marshes; four 



lain bluish-white eggs. (1-80x1.40); May, June. 



Range.-^Breeds loyally in the whoi~ of the United 

 States and Canada, north to Hudson Bay; winters in 

 the southern half of the United States. 



