120 HAWKS. 



the Eed-slioulder, and is equally deserving of protec- 

 tion. He is larger than the Red-shoulder, whom he re- 

 sembles in habits, and has a reddish 

 Eed-tailed Hawk, ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^ broken black band 



across the breast when adult. His call 

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

 of the sound produced by escaping 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 



Circus hudsonius. and gracefully, ever on the watch for 



Plate XV. 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 



Dr. Fisher had eaten chickens. 



The Marsh Hawk is migratory, and in winter is not 

 often found north of southern Connecticut. He nests 

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

 his nest of gi'asses on the ground in the marshes, laying 

 from four to six dull white or bluish white eggs early 

 in May. 



The Sparrow Hawk has a perfectly clean record, 



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



Sparrow Hawk, ^ere examined by Dr. Fisher, having 



Faico spanierius. partaken of poultry, while no less than 



Plate XVI. 215 had 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 some unsuspected victim below, he returns to the bare 

 Kmb or stab he uses for a lookout station, uttering an 

 exultant Mlly — Mlh/ — Mlly as he flies. 



The Sparrow is distributed throughout the greater 

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



