evolutions which are highly amusing. 

 While at a considerable altitude it 

 throws its wings over its back, and fall- 

 ing several yards, turns over and over 

 much like a tumbler pigeon until near 

 the ground, when it ascends rapialy 

 again to repeat the performance. 



''When prey is discovered the Hawk 

 poises for a moment over the spot and 

 then drops quickly on it, and if unsuc- 

 cessful is sure to beat over the same 

 place before leaving. It generally de- 

 vours its quarry on or near the spot 

 where captured, instead of carrying it 

 away. Its food consists largely of small 

 rodents such as meadow mice, half- 

 grown squirrels, rabbits, and spermo- 

 philes or ground squirrels. In fact, so 

 extensively does it feed on the last- 

 named animals that the writer rarely 

 has examined a stomach from the West 

 which did not contain their remains. In 

 addition to the above it preys upon liz- 

 ards, frogs, snakes, insects and birds; 

 of the latter, the smaller ground-dwell- 

 ing species usually are taken. When 

 hard pressed it is said to feed on offal 

 and carrion ; and in spring and fall, when 

 water fowl are abundant, it occasionally 

 preys upon the dead and wounded birds 

 left by gunners. It seldom chases birds 

 on the wing, though the writer has seen 

 it do so in a few instances." 



That the Marsh Hawk is a most valu- 

 able bird to the agriculturist is unde- 

 niable. The records of the department 

 of agriculture show conclusively that its 

 food consists largely of harmful rodents 

 which do the farmer thousands of dol- 

 lars' worth of damage every year. It 

 feeds on but few of the insectivorous 

 birds and cannot, therefore, be consid- 

 ered harmful on that score. Speaking 

 of the value of this Hawk, Dr. Fisher 

 says: 



"Although this Hawk occasionally 

 carries off poultry and game birds, its 

 economic value as a destroyer of mam- 

 mal pests is so great that its slight ir- 

 regularities should be pardoned. Un- 

 fortunately, however, the farmer and 

 sportsman shoot it down at sight, re- 

 gardless or ignorant of the fact that it 

 preserves an immense quantity of grain, 



thousands of fruit trees, and innumer- 

 able nests of game birds by destroying 

 the vermin which eat the grain, girdle 

 the trees, and devour the eggs and 

 young of the birds. 



"The Marsh Hawk is unquestionably 

 one of the most beneficial as it is one 

 of our most abundant hawks, and its 

 presence and increase should be encour- 

 aged in every way possible, not only 

 by protecting it by law, but by dissemi- 

 nating a knowledge of the benefits it 

 confers. It is probably the most active 

 and determined foe of meadow mice 

 and ground squirrels, destroying great- 

 er numbers of these pests than any 

 other species, and this fact alone should 

 entitle it to protection, even if it de- 

 stroyed no other injurious animals." 



It is interesting to note some facts 

 in regard to the ignorance of our legis- 

 lators concerning this and other hawks. 

 According to a leaflet recently issued 

 by the National Committee of Audubon 

 Societies, only fourteen states protect 

 the Marsh Hawk, while thirty-five 

 states and territories, not only permit 

 it to be killed at any time, but in several 

 instances have offered bounties for their 

 scalps. One of the most notable cases 

 of the last short-sighted poHcy was that 

 of Pennsylvania which, in 1885, passed 

 a bounty act that cost sixty thousand 

 dollars the first year. This act was soon 

 repealed, but not until many thousand 

 valuable hawks had been killed. Vir- 

 ginia passed a bill protecting the hawks 

 in 1903 and changed its mind in 1904 

 by repealing the act. 



In South Carolina and other rice- 

 growing states this Hawk drives away 

 the reed birds or bobolinks, thus, in a 

 measure, helping to protect the rice 

 fields from the severe depredations of 

 this omnivorous bird. Wilson has 

 stated that the Southern planters con- 

 sider one Marsh Hawk equal to sev- 

 eral negroes for driving away these 

 rice birds. All obtainable facts prove 

 conclusively that the Marsh Hawk is 

 one of the most beneficial of birds to 

 the farmer and it is greatly to be de- 

 sired that every state in the Union 

 shall enact laws for its protection. 

 Collins Thurber. 



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