THE OOLOGIST 



167 



MARSH HAWKS 



While in the vicinity of Regina, 

 Sask., during the latter part of April, 

 1921. I had under observation a pair 

 of Marsh Hawks (Circus Hudsonius) 

 and on May 5th located their nest con- 

 taining two eggs. It was situated 

 about seventy-five yards from a con- 

 stantly used road and on unbroken 

 prairie covered with small scrub about 

 eighteen inches high. 



I visited the nest several times and 

 as has always been my experience, 

 the birds became very excited, keep- 

 ing up a constant "kekking" and when 

 close to the nest, swoopincr down with- 

 in a few feet of my head. 



I was rather puzzled, however, by 

 the actions of the male which was in 

 the full adult blue plumage. As soon 

 as I approached another patch of 

 scrub a short distance away, he be- 

 came very excited, swooping round my 

 head as before. As this happened 

 each time in the same place, I 

 searched round and soon flushed an- 

 other female from five eggs, the sec- 

 ond nest being not more than 150 

 yards from the first one. 



As this and the actions of the male 

 seemed to me to be unusual, I com- 

 menced a series of observations last- 

 ing about two weeks. I would go from 

 one nest to the other, sometimes one 

 first and sometimes the other, but the 

 same male, and the only one visible, 

 followed me from one nest to the 

 other seemingly equally concerned 

 over both. At other times after visit- 

 ing one nest I would wait for a siiort 

 time and without losing sight of the 

 male who usually retired to a certain 

 post a short distance away, work my 

 way around and approach the other 

 nest from the opposite direction. The 

 result, however, was always the same. 

 The bird would leave his post and go 

 through the same tactics over the tjec- 

 ond nest as he had done over the first. 



1 was unfortunately unable to con- 

 tinue my observations until the young 

 were hatched, but for a period of over 

 two weeks I had the nests frequently 

 under observation at various times of 

 the day, but at no time did I see more 

 than three birds at one time on this 

 particular piece of prairie and always 

 the male and two females. 



It may, of course, have been that 

 one male was always away hunting at 

 the times I was there, but these 

 Hawks are very plentiful round Re- 

 gina and I have found a large number 

 of nests during the two years I was 

 there. I do not, however, remember a 

 case when the absent bird did not re- 

 spond immediately to the alarm notes 

 of its mate, apart from which, goph- 

 ers and field mice are extremely plent- 

 iful close by, that it would not be 

 necessary for the birds to go any dis- 

 tance in search of food. The country 

 is absolutely open and it would be 

 quite impossible for the bird to be out 

 of sight, if in the vicinity of the nest. 



While I would not like to say that 

 this bird had mated with two females, 

 I think the circumstances are of suffi- 

 cient interest to record, and it may be 

 that some of your readers may be 

 able to offer some explanation. 



L. S. Dear, 

 Port William, Ont. 



"CANADA GOOSE MIGRATION" 



About 2 o'clock March 22, 1922, 

 twenty-seven Canada Geese flew low 

 over our house, headed North. 



Ramon Graham, 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



