120 HAWKS. 



the Red-slionkler, and is equally deserving of protec- 

 tion, lie is larger than the Ked-shoulder, whom he re- 

 sembles in habits, and has a reddish 

 Eed-tailed Hawk, ^^,^^^^ ^^-j ^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^-^ ^^^^ 



JjuicO Oore'tlt-'i. 



across the breast when adult. His call 

 is a thin, long-drawn, wheezj whistle, which reminds one 

 of the sound produced by escajjing steam. 



The Marsh Hawk courses to and fro over field and 



meadow, like a Gull over the water. He never sails. 



Marsh Hawk, however, but on firm wing flies easily 



Ciiru.iiiKihojviNs. and gracefully, ever on the watch for 



^'''"^'^■^^- prey in the grasses below. He may 



sometimes mistake birds for mice, but he captures far 



more of the latter than of the former, and only 7 of the 



124 Marsh Hawks whose stomachs were examined by 



I)r. Fisher had eaten chickens. 



The Marsh Hawk is migratory, and in winter is not 

 often found north of soutliern Connecticut. He nests 

 later than the resident Hawks, and, unlike them, builds 

 his nest of grasses on the ground in the marshes, laying 

 from four to six dull white or bluish white eggs early 

 in May. 



The Sparrow Ha^^'k has a perfectly clean record, 

 as far as chickens go, not one of the 320 whose stomachs 

 Sparrow Hawk, ^^"'^re examined by Dr. Fisher, having 

 Fairo .^parnriiis. iMvtakexi of poultrv, wliilc no less than 

 7'iatc XVI. 215 hail eaten insects, and 89 had cap- 



tured mice. Grasshoppers are the Sparrow Hawk's chief 

 food, and we may often see him hovering over the fields 

 with rapidly moving wings. Then, dropping lightly down 

 on mme unsuspected victim below, he returns to the bare 

 limb or stub he uses for a lookout station, utterina; an 

 exultant Hll// — h'llij — Zv7/y as he flies. 



The Sparrow is distributed throughout the greater 

 part of North America, but in winter is not found north 



