men. .The Marsh Hawk, Circus Hudson- 

 ius, is familiar to every farmer who has 

 a slough near his place and also to every 

 sportsman who hunts feathered game in 

 our province. He is usually seen sitting 

 on a fence post near a slough, on some 

 elevation in the marsh, as the top of a 

 muskrat hut, or sailing about in a very 

 erratic fashion over the fields or marsh, 

 and is always readily recognized by the 

 broad white band across the rump. Many 

 of this species meet their death from sheer 

 wantonness and the desire to kill or prac- 

 tice wing shooting, w'hile many others are 

 dropped by the sportsman from his cover 

 in the marshes because of the annoyance 

 caused by frightening the game, but few 

 are ever picked up, and fewer still are the 

 stomachs examined to determine the food 

 of the bird. Many claim that the bird 

 kills small ckickens. but an examination 

 of 124 stomachs shows only 7, or less than 

 6 per cent, containing poultry or game 

 birds, and as this bird, no doubt, catches 

 wounded ducks and other game birds 

 which are dying in pain, and unable to 

 escape, consequently the damage to poul- 

 try is nowhere verified by stomach exami- 

 nation and the assertion that it destroys 

 game is disproven by the fact that the 

 weak claws and bill of the bird will not 

 permit its catching or killing game birds 

 only when badly wounded and when they 

 would otherwise die from injuries receiv- 

 ed from the sportsman's gun. The rna- 

 jority of injurious records against the bird 

 are for small birds whose economic value 

 is doubtful on account of inability to de- 

 termine the species, and the following ex- 

 tracts from experiences with the bird will 

 show that it is unable to secure game 

 birds unless wounded : — 



From E. E. Thompson's " Birds of 

 Manitoba." 



Oct. H. 1888. near Shoal lake, west, saw 

 a Blue Harrier trying to catch some teal 

 in a very small shallow pond. Each time 

 the harrier pounced the teal would dive 

 below the surface and at the same time 

 splash the water as high as possible. This 

 happened several times and at length the 

 baffled harrier gave up the attempt. 



Sept. 9. Saw a Brown Harrier pounce 

 en a prairie chicken, but the latter strne- 

 gled and got free and made a dash for life 

 with the harrier in close pursuit, but as 

 the chicken gained at every beat, in less 

 than 100 yards the hawk gave up the 

 chase and turned about in search of go- 

 phers, grasshoppers and other game more 

 wit-hin his reach. 



These birds turn a very lieht slaty blue 

 and almost white on the breast as they 

 .eet older, but always have the white band 

 on the rump. The blue hawk, as this spe- 



cies, from its plumage, is called, is a 

 much shier bird than the brown, and also 

 capable of more remarkable feats of wing. 

 They are sometimes seen careering up and 

 down, almost perpendicular, for a height 

 of from 60 to 100 feet, at the same time 

 uttering a harsh screeching noise as 

 though attacking something below them, 

 and they will as suddenly turn and sail 

 off in a lazy fashion as though nothing 

 had happened. This is considered an ec- 

 centricity of the species, which is not ac- 

 counted for and for which he is probably 

 not accountable, unless it may be for a 





^ ill 



Sv/ainson's Hawk. 



(Buteo Swainsoni.) 



show of bravado before his mate, as I 

 i;fcver shaw it acting thus, only in the 

 spring about mating time. 



The four remaining species of this class 

 belong to one genus, and while their hab- 

 itats are somewhat different their habits 

 are similar. They are a heavy, broad- 

 winged sailing and heavy bodied group, 

 on the whole much more suited for sit- 

 ting silently watching the appearance of 

 their prey and dropping on it rather than 

 in capturing it while on the wing. 



The smallest of these is the Broad- 

 Winged Hawk, Buteo latissimus, a bird 

 somewhat rare in Manitoba and which 



