The Marsh Hawk 



Taken in Inyo County 



A ROMANTIC SETTING 



Photo by ike Author 



THE MARSH IS IN OWENS VALLEY, AND THE SNOW-FIELD WHICH OUTLINES THE HAWK HAS AN ELEVATION OF SOME 



12,000 FEET 



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. Preeminently 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 nor be seen, over the limits of an entire field, it oftenest 

 moves 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 examina- 

 tion of a suspect, or drops suddenly into the grass, seizing a mole or cricket 

 and retiring 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, young rabbits, ground squirrels, garter-snakes, frogs, lizards, grass- 

 hoppers and the like. In hunting for ground squirrels the bird flies higher 

 and secures its prey by a headlong dash, pinning the victim to the ground 

 and making sure of the kill before rising. So great is its fondness for mice 

 that one may, with sufficient cover for concealment, succeed in calling the 

 hawk very close by imitating the squeak of a mouse in distress. 



Its fondness for the pestilential ground squirrel is so undisguised 

 that the State could well afford to establish a Marsh Hawk hatchery, or 

 to maintain a warden service, to see that the incorrigible hawk-killers arc 



1653 



