226 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



blackish brown, each feather tipped or bordered terminally with rusty or ochra- 

 ceous ; head and neck streaked with the same ; superciliary stripe and lower parts 

 ochraceous (varying to buffy whitish), spotted or striped with dusky. Length 

 16.00-18.00, extent 44.00-46.00, wing 12.90-14.25, tail 7.20-8.50, culmen 1.00-1.10. 

 Nest built on top of bushes or tall rank grasses in open marshes. Eggs usually 2, 

 1.70 X 1-43, blotched, marbled, and stained with various shades of brown on a paler 

 (sometimes bluish white) - ground-color. Sab. Whole of tropical America, except 

 part of "West Indies ; south to Argentine Eepublic and Ecuador, north to Florida 

 and Atlantic coast of Mexico 330. R. sociabilis (Vieill.). Everglade Kite. 



Genus CIRCUS Lacepede. (Page 222, pi. LXVIL, fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Adult male : Head, neck, chest, and upper parts uniform light bluish gray, the 

 occiput darker and streaked with whitish, tinged with rusty ; longer quills blackish 

 toward tips ; upper tail-coverts plain white ; tail bluish gray, mottled with white 

 toward base, narrowly tipped with white, crossed near end by a broad blackish 

 band, and, anterior to this, by five to seven narrower and less distinct dusky 

 bands ; the inner webs whitish, with the bands more distinct, and sometimes tinged 

 with rusty ; under surface of wing (except terminal third, or more, of quills), and 

 lower parts from breast backward, white, the larger under wing-coverts and lower 

 parts with more or less numerous transverse (usually cordate) spots of rusty or 

 brown. Adult female : Above dusky brown, tbe head and neck streaked, the lesser 

 wing-coverts spotted, and feathers of rump edged, with rusty ; upper tail-coverts 

 plain white ; tail brown, paler at tip, and crossed by six or seven very regular and 

 distinct bands of blackish ; the brownish spaces becoming gradually paler and more 

 rusty to outer feathers, which are more ochraceous ; sides of head light dull buffy, 

 with a dusky stripe behind eye ; feathers of " facial disk" buff, each with a median 

 streak of dark brown ; chin, throat, and lower parts generally, dull buffy whitish, 

 varying to deeper dull buffy, striped (except on chin and throat) with brown, the 

 stripes becoming gradually much narrower posteriorly. Young : Above blackish 

 brown, the head and neck streaked and lesser wing-coverts spotted with deep 

 rusty; upper tail-coverts white, tinged more or less with ochraceous; tail crossed 

 by four broad bands of black, the interspaces being dark brown on middle feathers, 

 changing gradually to ochraceous on outer feathers ; ear-coverts uniform rich dark 

 brown ; feathers of " facial disk" dark brown, broadly edged with rufous ; lower 

 parts rich rusty ochraceous, growing gradually paler posteriorly, the breast and 

 sides narrowly and (usually) indistinctly streaked with darker, but elsewhere im- 

 maculate. Downy young : Entirely pale cinnamon-buffy, tinged with grayish on 

 back, and becoming almost white on lower parts. Length 19.50-24.00, wing 12.90- 

 16.00, tail 8.80-10.50, tarsus 2.85-3.25, middle toe 1.20-1.55. Nest on ground, in 

 meadows, usually near ponds or marshes. Eggs 3-8, 1.80 X 1.41, white, or bluish 

 white, usually plain, but often more or less spotted or blotched with pale brown. 

 Hab. Whole of North America; south, in winter, to Panama, Bahamas, and Cuba. 



331. C. hudsonius (Linn.). Marsh Hawk. 



