222 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



CXXII. CIRCUS Lacepede. i8oi. 

 ^33l. Marsh Hawk. Marsh Harrier. 



Circus hudsonius (Linn.) Vieill. 1807. 



Rare in Newfoundland. Only once seen at Cow Head. {Reeks.) 

 Audubon saw it in Labrador. {Packard.) The following are our 

 most northern references to this bird : Moose Factory, James , 

 Bay, where Spreadborough saw it on June nth, 1896 ; Dr. 

 Robert Bell records it from York Factory, Hudson Bay ; Clarke 

 mentions its occurrence at Fort Churchill, on the west side of the 

 Bay, and Richardson places its northern limit at Great Bear 

 Lake, in Lat. 65°. Bernard Ross, on the other hand, places its 

 northern limit at Great Slave Lake, and' says that it is scarce 

 there. 



It is a summer resident and generally distributed in Prince 

 Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, New Bruns- 

 wick, Quebec and Ontario, and is very abundant throughout the 

 whole prairie region, breeding as far north, as Great Bear Lake. 



Rather rare in the mountains, but not uncommon in the Colum- 

 bia Valley from Revelstoke south. Rather common westward, 

 and becoming abundant at Sicamous and westward to Spence's 

 Bridge, B.C. {Macoun) Abundant on the mainland of British 

 Columbia at Sumas, Chilliwack, mouth of the Fraser, and east of 

 the Coast Range. Partially migratory. A few are found through- 

 out the winter in the neighbourhood of Ladner's, near the 

 mouth of the Fraser. {Fannin) These birds are numerous 

 throughout northern Alaska during the migrations. They are 

 seen frequently along the barren coast of Behring Sea, and have 

 been recorded as . rather uncommon in the interior. {Nelson.) 

 This bird appears to be a resident of the Yukon district only 

 between the early part of April and late November. The species 

 is a rare summer visitor on Attn Island. (Turner) Observed in 

 winter at Lake Okanagan, B.C. {Brooks) Noted at every stopping- 

 place in British Columbia. Nowhere abundant. {Rhoads) I 

 saw this species at Cape Blossom, Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, on 

 two occasions. Marsh hawks were frequently noted at our 

 winter camp on the Kowak the last of August. {Grinnell) 



Breeding Notes. — This species breeds frequently in the 

 neighbourhood of Ottawa. Its nest is composed of dry grass 



