160 REPOKT OF NEW JEESEY STATE MUSEUM. 



and in Thurber's list 1 two are reported seen by L. P. Shirrer and 

 George Held, at Morristown, September 18th, 1887. Another was 

 procured at Jerseytown, Pa., on the Delaware, by Mr. William Kester, 2 

 August 18th, 1894. Dr. C. C. Abbott 3 reported seeing one near Bor- 

 dentown, July 28th, 1883, but subsequently 4 changed the date to No- 

 vember, 1883. Mr. J. Harris Eeed 5 saw one in southern Cumberland 

 county, June 4th, 1893, and Mr. C. P. Silvester 6 saw one some } r ears 

 ago near Princeton. 



According to Mr. Babson 6 Dr. Abbott states that taxidermists had 

 shown him specimens of the Mississippi Kite shot in New Jersey. The 

 record, however, does not seem sufficiently explicit to warrant inclu- 

 sion in the list. 



331 Circus hudsonius (Linnaeus). 

 Marsh Hawk. 



Adult male. Length, 19.50-24. Wing, 13-16. Above, bluish-gray; darker 

 on the crown and back ; nape streaked with white or buff ; rump, white ; under 

 parts, white, with scattered spots of rusty, especially on the sides; tail, gray, 

 obscurely barred with dusky ; outer feathers more or less white, barred with 

 reddish-brown. 



Adult female. Brown above ; rump, white ; head, shoulders and coverts 

 streaked or spotted with buff ; below, pale buff, heavily streaked with brown. 



Young in first winter. Brown above ; rump, white ; occiput streaked with 

 white or rusty; wing-coverts spotted with rusty; under parts, rich rufous 

 buff ; breast slightly streaked with brown. 



Nest on the ground in marshes ; eggs, four to six, pale bluish-white, 1.80 x 

 1.40. 



Common resident, but a rare breeder in the southern half of the 

 State and less common in winter in the northern half. 



A hawk of the open meadows, sailing low over the ground when 

 searching for mice and always identified by the conspicuous white 

 rump. Adult males are rare, most of the birds being in the brown 

 plumage. N"ests regularly at Summit (Holmes), Newton (Philipp), 

 Paterson (Clark), etc. One nest was found by Mr. W. E. D. Scott, 

 at Long Beach, June 28th, 1877, 7 and another set from there is in 



1 Birds of Morris county. 



2 R. Kester, Cassinia, 1903, p. 76. 



a Science, Vol. II., No. 29, 1883, p. 222. 

 * Birds of Mercer county. 



5 Stone, Birds of E. Pa. and N. J., p. 85. 



6 Babson, Birds of Princeton, p. 46. 



7 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1879. 



