The Marsh Hawk 



brought to book. Au- 

 thorities differ greatly as 

 to the amount of destruc- 

 tion occasioned by this 

 bird to other bird life. 

 I have been a rather 

 close observer of this 

 species, and in only one 

 instance have I ever seen 

 it capture a bird. That 

 bird, a Redwing, was 

 voluntarily released. Yet 

 I have frequently re- 

 marked that the lesser 

 bird world is always 

 greatly perturbed over 

 the appearance of this 

 Marsh Hawk. Pipits and 

 Horned Larks and 

 Meadowlarks will flee 

 from its presence with 

 distressed cries, inso- 

 much that I have won- 

 dered whether they rec- 

 ognized a bad actor of 

 former experience, or 

 whether they mistake 

 this modest mouser for 

 something more dangerous. Or, again, when kingbirds and blackbirds 

 persist in mobbing the Marsh Hawk, as they invariably do in the vicinity 

 of its nesting home, one cannot be sure whether they are trying to avenge 

 wrongs previously suffered, or only bullying an antagonist whom they do 

 not fear. Major Brooks, on the other hand, assures me that he has seen 

 the Marsh Hawk capture birds on many occasions, and he derides the 

 claims which we make on behalf of the bird's exemption. It is known that 

 the Harrier will occasionally pick up a wounded quail or a duck (and who 

 wouldn't?) but he is not seriously reckoned at any southern station as a 

 menace to game or poultry. 



This hawk is one of 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 



l654 



MARSH HAWK 



