THE MARSH HAWK. 395 



and fourth primaries, wing when folded falhng an inch or more short of tail, 

 and sometimes not reaching to end of feet. Iris bright yellow ; bill blackish ; feet 

 yellow ; claws black. Adult female : Of different coloring ; upper parts dusky 

 brown, the head and neck streaked and the lesser wing-coverts spotted or margined 

 with cinnamon-rufous ; longer upper tail-coverts white, the shorter ones brown, 

 tipped with rufous ; tail brown, becoming paler at tip, and crossed by six or 

 seven distinct, blackish bands ; remaining feathers barred with ochraceous and 

 blackish; under parts ochraceous or huffy, streaked broadly on the breast, and 

 narrowly on the belly with light brown or dusky. Immature : Similar to adult 

 female but darker, — rich, chocolate-brown above, and on sides of neck and 

 cheeks ; the under parts darker, cinnamon-rufous, — the belly unmarked. Males 

 show every gradation between immature and adult plumage, and indeed the perfect 

 adult male plumage is rarely found. Adult male length 17.50-20.00 (444.5-508.) ; 

 wing (13.00-14.00 (330.2-355.6); tail 8.50-10.00 (215.9-254.); bill from nostril 

 .65 (16.5). Adult female length 19.00-24.00 (482.6-609.6); wing 14.00-16.00 

 (355.6-406.4) ; tail 9.50-10.50 (241.3-266.7). 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size ; white upper tail-coverts make the best 

 field mark ; long tail ; marsh-haunting habits. 



Nest, on the ground in marshes, of twigs and dry grasses and moss. Eggs, 

 3-6, pale bluish white, usually unmarked but sometimes spotted or blotched with 

 pale rufous. Av. size, 1.78 x 1.40 (45.2 x 35.6). 



General Range. — North America in general, south to Panama and Cuba. 

 Breeds throughout its North American range. 



Range in Ohio. — Formerly abundant, now rare throughout the state. Breeds. 

 Sparingly resident in winter in southern portion. 



HUMILITY is the leading characteristic of this "ignoble" bird of prey, 

 whether we regard its chosen paths, its spirit, or the nature of its quarry. 

 Pre-eminently a bird of the meadows and marshes, it usually avoids the 

 woods entirely, and is to be seen coursing over the grass and weed-tops with 

 an easy gliding flight. Since it flies at such a low elevation as neither to see 

 or be seen over the limits of an entire field, it often flies in a huge zigzag course, 

 ''quartering" its territory like a hunting dog. Now and then the bird pauses 

 and hovers to make a more careful examination of a suspect, or drops sud- 

 denly into the grass, seizes a mole or a cricket, and retires to a convenient spot 

 — a fence-post or a grassy knoll — to devour its catch. The food of the Marsh 

 Hawk consists almost entirely of meadow mice, gophers, garter snakes, frogs, 

 lizards, grasshoppers and the like. Only in the winter is it driven to prey 

 to any large extent upon birds, and then only such northern birds as frequent 

 weedy bottoms and swampy tangles, Tree Sparrows, }uncoes, etc. 



This Hawk is the most unwary, as it is the most useful, of its race. It 

 is no achievement to assassinate one from behind the cover of a convenient 

 haycock, or even to arrest its easy flight in an open field. The tillers of the 

 soil have done nothing more foolish or more prejudicial to their own interests 

 than to allow and encourage the slaughter of this innocent and highly useful 



