MARSH HAWK. 445 
yellow, and almost hid among the feathers; plumage of the chin, 
curving up over the under mandible; eyes, bright orange; heed, 
small; face, narrow, and with very little concavity; cheeks, white ; 
crown and hind head, dusky black, thickly marked with round spots 
of white ; sides of the neck, marked with a large, curving streak of 
brown black, with another, a little behind it, of a triangular form; 
back, scapulars, rump, and tail-coverts, brown olive, thickly speckled 
with broad spots of white; the tail extends three inches beyond the 
tips of the wings, is of a brown olive color, and crossed with six or 
seven narrow bars of white, rounded at the end, and also tipped with 
white; the breast and chin are marked with a large spot of brown 
olive ; upper part of the breast, light; lower, and all the parts below, 
elegantly barred with dark brown and white; legs and feet, cov- 
ered to and beyond the claws with long, whitish plumage, slightly 
yellow, and barred with fine lines of olive ; claws, horn color. The 
weight of this bird was twelve ounces. ; , 
The female is much darker above; the quills are nearly black ; 
and the upper part of the breast is blotched with deep blackish brown. 
It is worthy of remark, that, in all Owls that fly by night, the exte- 
rior edges and sides of the wing-quills are slightly recurved, and end 
in fine hairs or points; by which means the bird is enabled to pass 
through the air with the greatest silence —a provision necessary for 
enabling it the better to surprise its prey. In the Hawk Owl now 
before us, which flies by day, and to whom this contrivance would be 
of no consequence, it is accordingly omitted, or at least is scarcely 
observable. So judicious, so wise, and perfectly applicable, are all 
the dispositions of the Creator ! 
ee eee 
MARSH HAWK.—FALCO ULIGINOSUS. —Fie. 203. 
Edw, iv. 291.— Lath. i. 90.— Arct. Zool. p. 208, No. 105. — Bartram, p. 290. — 
Peale’s Museum, No. 318. 
CIRCUS CYANEUS. —Becustern. 
Falco (sub-gen. Circus,) Bonap. Synop. p.33.— Buteo (Circus) cyaneus? var. 
Americanus, North. Zool. ii. p. 55. 
A prawine of this Hawk was transmitted to Mr. Edwards, more 
than fifty years ago, by Mr. William Bartram, and engraved in Plate 
291 of Edwards’s Ornithology. At that time, and I believe till now, 
it has been considered as a species peculiar to this country. 
I have examined various individuals of this Hawk, both in summer 
and in the depth of winter, and find them to correspond so nearly with 
the Ring-tail of Europe, that I have no doubt of their being the same 
species. 
This Hawk is most numerous where there are extensive meadows 
and salt marshes, over which it sails very low, making frequent cir- 
cuitous sweeps over the same ground, in search of a species of mouse, 
and very abundant in such situations. It occasionally flaps the wings, 
but is most commonly seen sailing about within a few feet of the 
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