16 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 2 



only arrangement by which the birds could 

 cover them. 



The Euddys were very shy and it was 

 difficult to see the parents, as on approach- 

 ing their nest they would cpiietly slide off 

 and swim through the tules, without mak- 

 ing any perceptible noise. They would 

 not rise from the water, even when a gun 

 was fired, if there were any tules in which 

 they could hide themselves. On visiting 

 the lagoon in August, I surprised several 

 families away from the tules, in which the 

 parents invariably sought shelter, leaving 

 their young to look out for themselves. 

 They were unable to fly but could swim 

 and dive well, and it was amusing to see 

 them attempt to hide behind each other. — 

 A. 31. Jngersoll, Alameda, Gal. 



The Marsh Hawk and Its Eggs. 



PART II. 



Early and authentic mention has been 

 made of large sets of eggs of Circus hucl- 

 sonhis. But the reference on Page 115 of 

 Brewer's N. Am. Oology (Smithsonian, 

 1858,) to clutches of eleven, twelve and 

 thirteen, with their misty data, may now 

 be dismissed from the record. Some ac- 

 count of a nest of seven can be found in 

 the O. and O., Page 14, Vol. VI. Last 

 year, in his fresh Northwestern field, Capt. 

 Bendire took a set of seven jDlain eggs. 

 The same season, I took an extreme set of 

 seven covered with showy markings. May 

 14, 1882, the nest had four eggs, and it held 

 seven fresh eggs when taken, May 21. The 

 three added eggs were bluer than the 

 others, but the first part of the clutch had 

 the best markings. These were not the 

 mere " accidental deposits of lymph," re- 

 ferred to by the late Dr. Brewer as liable 

 to appear on all plain eggs. But they pre- 

 sented a good superficial design and the 

 cloudy sub-shell coloring seen on average 

 sets of Bed-shouldered Hawks. May 20, 

 1883, secured another set of five nicely 

 marked eggs from this pair of Hawks. In 



May, 1882, I took clutches of Cooper's 

 Hawk handsomely spotted, and on corres- 

 ponding dates in 1883, from the same 

 birds similar sets. This, with other data 

 at hand, tends to show that the Accipiters 

 and Marsh Hawks which lay plain sets one 

 year will lay plain sets the next year, and 

 that those that lay the prized marked sets 

 may fairly be counted on to do so in sue 

 cessive seasons. Though this has been 

 doubted by some authorities, with whom I 

 still have a bone to pick, yet I can show it 

 to be the rule among the Buteos, by exten 

 sive yearly series of eggs from the same 

 localities. Individual shapes will also be 

 found to obtain among the eggs of our 

 resident Raptores. Dr. Coues says the 

 eggs are " not certainly distinguishable " 

 from Cooper's, (vide Birds of the North- 

 west, Page 337.) Yet in a series of both, 

 Marsh Hawks can be seen to be smaller, 

 without measurements — only now and then 

 does a set appear to be as large as Cooper's. 

 Our Harrier will not allow the liberties we 

 take with the nests of the Accipiters — no- 

 tably the Sharp-shinned. If egg No. 1 is 

 taken the others will be laid elsewhere. 

 Last season, by my merely looking at her 

 first egg laid, though never handling it, a 

 Preston Hawk deserted the nest, and laid 

 the other four eggs in a remote wooded 

 part of the marsh, where they were taken 

 only after long and careful search. 



The Marsh Hawk is, perhaps, the most 

 noiseless of our breeding rapacise. Some 

 individuals have an intonation of the Fish 

 Hawk, but in general the cry approaches 

 more nearly that of the Cooper. To those 

 who only know the subject of this sketch 

 as the skimmer of the meadows, floating 

 and quartering spaniel-like over brushy 

 lowlands, he will hardly seem like a being 

 of the upper air. Yet he has his aspira- 

 tions, as we may see. In the forenoon of 

 May 9, 1878, (an exceptionally early sea- 

 son,) I took three sets of eggs of Marsh 

 Hawk in North Stonington ; and in those 

 wide meadows, where there were no trees 



