400 MARSH HAWK. 
quarter in breadth. The two birds were procured, and their measure- 
ments carefully entered in my journal, as well as those of others ob- 
tained in various parts of the United States and of the British Pro- 
vinces. A nest found on the Alleghanies was placed under a low bush, 
in an open spot of scarcely half an acre. It was constructed in the 
same manner, as the one described above, but was more bulky, the bed 
being about four inches from the earth. The eggs, although of the 
same form and colour, were slightly sprinkled with small marks of pale 
reddish-brown. In general, the Marsh Hawks scoop the ground, for 
the purpose of fixing their nest to the spot. On returning to London, 
in the summer of 1837, I shewed several of the eggs of the American 
bird to Wiiitam YarRELL, Esq., who at once pronounced them to be- 
long to the Hen Harrier ; and on comparing their measurements with 
those of the eggs described by my friend Wittram Macertuivray, I 
find that they agree perfectly. 
The young are at first covered with soft yellowish-white down, but 
in a few weeks shew the brownish and ferruginous tints of their female 
parent, the young males being distinguishable from the females by 
their smaller size. 
I have found a greater number of barren females in this species 
than in any other; and to this I in part attribute their predominance 
over the males. The food of the Marsh Hawk consists of insects of 
various kinds, especially crickets, of small lizards, frogs, snakes, birds, 
principally the smaller sorts, although it will attack Partridges, Plo- 
vers, and even Green-winged Teals, when urged by excessive hunger. 
The only instance in which I have seen this bird carry any prey in its 
talons on wing, happened on the 2d of April 1837, at the south-west 
Pass of the Mississippi, when I was in company with Eowarp Harris, 
Esq. and my son Jonn Woopuousr. A Marsh Hawk was seen to seize 
a bird on its nest, perhaps a Marsh Wren, Tvroglodytes palustris, and 
carry it off in its talons with the nest! <A pair were hovering over the 
marsh during the whole of our stay, and probably had a nest there- 
about. It is rather a cowardly bird, however, for on several oceasions, 
when I was in the Floridas, where it is abundant, I saw it chase a 
Salt-water Marsh Hen, Kallus crepitans, which courageously sprung up, 
and striking at its enemy, forced it off. My friend Joun Bacuman has 
frequently observed similar occurrences in the neighbourhood of Chariles- 
ton. Whenever it seizes a bird on wing, it almost at once drops to 
