THE BIRDS OF WISCONSIN. 
6J 
abandoned the region about that time. He states that "they 
nested on tall elm trees about the 10th of June, and left us 
about the 1st of September" (1). Rev. Mr. Barry, also writing 
of the vicinity of Racine in 1854, says, "at one time quite 
numerous upon our prairies, and quite annoying to us in 
grouse shooting ; now rarely met with in this vicinity." There 
is a specimen in the Milwaukee Public Museum, male, taken 
in Milwaukee County, May 15, 1888. Along the Mississippi 
River the swallow-tailed kite is more common and may still 
rarely breed. It is still a rare summer visitant in the east 
and central counties. 
Circus ImmIsoii ins (Linn.). MARSH HAWK. 
One of the commonest hawks of Wisconsin, in marshy or 
prairie sections. A summer resident, though specimens are 
frequently taken in southern Wisconsin as late as well into 
December. Nests in all suitable localities from the southern 
tier of counties northward. The marsh hawk subsists largely 
on frogs, etc., but does not hesitate to attack any smaller 
bird that it can overtake, even molesting the poultry about 
the farms bordering large marshes or low prairies. About 
reedy lakes where duck shooting is carried on it systemati- 
cally hunts along the border of the lake for crippled ducks. 
We have even known it to carry off a dead duck but a short 
distance from the hunter who had just shot it. Appears to 
be more plentiful than thirty years ago. 
Accipiter velox (Wils.). SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 
Very common as a migrant during the latter part of April 
and first three weeks of May, and again during September 
and October. A few remain during mild winters in the 
southern part of the state. We have found it nesting at 
Milton in two instances, but the majority go farther north. 
We have nesting records from Stevens Point, Iron County, 
Two Rivers, Madison, Racine, and, in fact, from so many 
widely separated localities that it can without doubt be con- 
sidered as breeding at suitable points throughout the state, 
in greater numbers in the central and northern parts. During 
migration, both spring and fall, it follows the flights of smaller 
birds, feeding almost exclusively on them, and must destroy 
great numbers. 
1. Trans. Wis. State Agric. Society, 1852, p. 343. 
