72 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



poultry or game birds; 34, other birds; 57, mice; 22, other mammals; 7, 

 reptiles; 2, frogs; 14, insects; 8 were empty." My own experience shows 

 that the food of this hawk, as is the case of other Raptores, depends much 

 upon the individual hawk as well as the locality and the season. Most 

 of the Marsh hawks from the Montezuma swamp which I have examined 

 contained nothing but birds (Song sparrows, Tree sparrows, juncos, Red- 

 winged blackbirds) and a few batrachians, while specimens from the more 

 cultivated country were largely filled with mice and insects, mostly grass- 

 hoppers (these latter usually in young birds). Mr Foster Parker, who 

 lives near Montezuma, has seen Marsh hawks repeatedly attack young 

 gallinules and finally exterminate the whole brood. 



In the mating season Marsh hawks indulge in extensive gyrations 

 above their nesting sites, often somersaulting over and over from a con- 

 siderable height and soaring upward again just before reaching the ground. 

 Both sexes take part in nest building, incubating and rearing the young. 

 The female sits closely and often remains on the nest until nearly trod 

 upon, when she rises with a loud harsh cackling note uttered with a jerky 

 intonation and resembling the syllables Cac-cac-cac-cac-cac. The male 

 usually joins her at once and they circle excitedly about the swamp uttering 

 intermittently their complaining screams. If the eggs are nearing the 

 hatching period, or if the nestlings are quite young, the old birds, especially 

 the female, will usually charge the intruder, dashing downward from a 

 height of 200 feet or more with alarming swiftness directly at one's head 

 but veering off and upward just before striking. I have been brushed 

 by the wings of a female Marsh hawk when charging to protect her newly 

 hatched young, and have had the bellows of my camera, which I had 

 concealed in the neighboring brush in hopes of securing a snap shot of 

 the old bird while feeding her young, torn to pieces by the sharp claws of 

 the parent birds as they attacked the alarming object which they did not 

 fail to discover at their first approach. The nest, unlike that of any of 

 our other hawks, is placed upon the ground, usually in a tangle of low 

 bushes, weeds and grasses in the midst of a swamp or bog. On several 



