MARSH HAWK. 107 



In winter, the notes which the Marsh Hawk emits while on wing, are 

 sharp, and sound like the syllables pee, pee, pee, the first slightly pronounced, 

 the last louder, much prolonged, and ending plaintively. During the love- 

 season, its cry more resembles that of our Pigeon Hawk, especially when 

 the males meet, they being apparently tenacious of their assumed right to a 

 certain locality, as well as to the female of their choice. 



The Marsh Hawk breeds in many parts of the United States, as well as 

 beyond our limits to the north and south in which it finds a place suited to 

 its habits; as is the case with the Blue-winged Teal, and several other 

 species, which have until now been supposed to retreat to high latitudes for 

 the purpose. That many make choice of the more northern regions, and 

 return southward in autumn, is quite certain; but in all probability an equal 

 number remain within the confines of the United States to breed. 



It is by no means restricted to the low lands of the sea-shores during the 

 breeding season, for I have found its nest in the Barrens of Kentucky, and 

 even on the cleared table-lands of the Alleghany Mountains and their spurs. 

 In one instance, I found it in the high-covered pine-barrens of the Floridas, 

 although I have never seen one on a tree; and the few cases of its nest having 

 been placed on low trees or bushes, may have been caused by the presence 

 of dangerous quadrupeds, or their having been more than once disturbed or 

 robbed of their eggs or young, when their former nests had been placed on 

 the ground. 



Many birds of this species breed before they have obtained their full 

 plumage. I have several times found a male bird in brown plumage paired 

 with a female which had eggs; but such a circumstance is not singular, for 

 the like occurs in many species of different families. I have never met with 

 a nest in situations like those described by some European writers as those 

 in which the Hen-Harrier breeds; but usually on level parts of the country, 

 or flat pieces of land that are sometimes met with in hilly districts. As I 

 am well aware, however, that birds adapt the place and even the form and 

 materials of their nests to circumstances, I cannot admit that such a difference 

 is by any means sufficient to prove that birds similar in all other respects, 

 are really different from each other. If it be correct, as has been stated, that 

 the male of the European bird deserts the female as soon as incubation 

 commences, this indeed would form a decided difference; but as such a habit 

 has not been observed in any other Hawk, it requires to be confirmed. Our 

 Marsh Hawks, after being paired, invariably keep together, and labour con- 

 jointly for the support of their family, until the young are left to shift for 

 themselves. This is equally the case with every Hawk with which I am 

 acquainted. 



Having considerable doubts as to whether any American writer who has 



