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there any bjackish tone on the back, but the bird has a long 

 tail and black wing tips. It moves in silence, and now it 

 hovers over a tussock, dives into it and goes on. The scream- 

 ing blackbirds chase it across the meadow. This is no heron, 

 but a hawk; its size, larger than a crow, its color, light ashy 

 above and nearly white below, its black wing tips, — all show 

 it to be an adult male marsh hawk. Thus we see how a few 

 well-marked characters may enable us to identify our birds. 



Marsh hawk. 



As one advances in the study, the manner in which birds 

 feed, the character of the locality in which they are found, the 

 location and construction of the nests,' the size and color of the 

 eggs, — all tend toward fixing the identity of the birds. 



It is well, before going to a marsh or lake, the seacoast, or a 

 dense forest, to "read up" on the birds to be found in such 

 localities. A kev to the birds, with a svstem based on the 

 colors and markings, will be serviceable, particularly to those 

 who are not intending to study ornithology scientifically, and 

 have* no opportunity to handle and examine specimens. The 



