108 MARSH HAWK. 



spoken of the Marsh Hawk ever saw one of its nests, I will here describe 

 one found on Galveston Island by my son John Woodhouse, and carefully 

 examined by him as well as by my friend Edward Harris and myself. 

 As is usually the case when in a low and flat district, this was placed about 

 a hundred yards from a pond, on the ground, upon a broom-sedge ridge, 

 about two feet above the level of the surrounding salt marsh. It was made 

 of dry grass, and measured between seven and eight inches in its internal 

 diameter, with a depth of two inches and a half, while its external diameter 

 was twelve inches. The grass was pretty regularly and compactly disposed, 

 especially in the interior, on which much care seemed to have been bestowed. 

 No feathers or other materials had been used in its construction, not even a 

 twig. The eggs were four, smooth, considerably rounded, or broadly ellip- 

 tical, bluish-white, an inch and three-quarters in length, an inch and a quarter 

 in breadth. The two birds were procured, and their measurements carefully 

 entered in my journal, as well as those of others obtained in various parts of 

 the United States and of the British Provinces. A nest found on the Alle- 

 ghanies was placed under a low bush, in an open spot of scarcely half an 

 acre. It was constructed in the same manner as the one described above, 

 but was more bulky, the bed being about four inches from the earth. The 

 eggs, although of the same form and colour, were slightly sprinkled with 

 small marks of pale reddish-brown. In general, the Marsh Hawks scoop 

 the ground, for the purpose of fixing their nest to the spot. On returning to 

 London, in the summer of 1837, I shewed several of the eggs of the Ameri- 

 can bird to William Yarrell, Esq., who at once pronounced them to 

 belong to the Hen-Harrier; and on comparing their measurements with those 

 of the eggs described by my friend William Macgillivray, I find that 

 they agree perfectly. 



The young are at first covered with soft yellowish-white down, but in a 

 few weeks shew the brownish and ferruginous tints of their female parent; 

 the young males being distinguishable from the females by their smaller size. 



I have found a greater number of barren females in this species than in 

 any other; and to this I in part attribute their predominance over the males. 

 The food of the Marsh Hawk consists of insects of various kinds, especially 

 crickets, of small lizards, frogs, snakes, birds, principally the smaller sorts, 

 although it will attack Partridges, Plovers, and even Green-winged Teals, 

 when urged by excessive hunger. The only instance in which I have seen 

 this bird carry any prey in its talons on wing, happened on the 2nd of April, 

 1S37, at the South-West Pass of the Mississippi, when I was in company 

 with Edward Harris, Esq. and my son John Woodhouse. A Marsh 

 Hawk was seen to seize a bird on its nest, perhaps a Marsh Wren, Troglo- 

 dytes palvstris. and carry it off in its talons with the nest! A pair were 



