30 
The Marsh Hawk 
This hawk is easily to be recognized, whatever the age or sex of the 
specimen may be, by the large white patch at the base of the tail, which 
is conspicuous in flight. When in repose its whitish look, owing to the 
disk of short feathers about the face, is a distinguishing mark. 
In northern New Jersey, where, in suitable localities, it is quite com- 
mon, its arrival in spring may be looked for in the last week of March 
or the first week in April. Then the.se birds may be 
Haunts seen sweeping low over open fields and wet meadows, 
singly or in twos and threes, searching for their food. 
Mating begins soon after arrival, and the pair resort to the meadow 
chosen as a summer home. 
Nesting begins early in April in the South, in the Middle States in 
May, and still later farther north. In New Jersey the situation usually 
chosen is a grassy meadow, well away from human habitations, not very 
wet, and preferably one in which clumps and patches of low bushes 
are scattered about among grass-tussocks. A good time to look for 
the nest of the Marsh Hawk is early in May, when the tussocks have 
grown tall, when the bloodroot is in blossom, and the cowslips are yellow- 
ing the pools along the edge of the meadow, for full complements of eggs 
are not to be expected until about the ioth of the month. 
Like many others of the hawk tribe, these birds seem to have a great 
fondness for some particular place, and resort to it year after year, despite 
being frequently disturbed, though the exact nesting- 
Loeal spot ma y p e? anc [ frequently is, changed from year to 
Attachment year. One small marsh I have in mind has been occu- 
pied by a pair of these birds continuously for twelve years, and usually the 
nest has been within a few feet of the spot occupied the preceding season. 
The nest of the Marsh Hawk is on the ground, or close to it, as on a 
high, dry tussock, or in a clear space amid a clump of low bushes, without 
any pretense at concealment. Unless the marsh or meadow is very ex- 
tensive it is seldom occupied by more than one pair of these hawks ; yet 
I know of one small marsh in New Jersey where three pairs of birds have 
nested for three successive years in a spot not more than a mile long; 
but such cases are rare. 
Both birds assist in the building of the nest, which is at best a crude 
and slight affair. A small amount of dried grass and weed-stems, with 
occasionally a few sticks loosely arranged around the 
edges to form a shallow central cavity, are gathered 
Structure 
of Nests 
at the chosen spot ; and a scanty lining of small tufts 
of grass, a few dead leaves, and perhaps some feathers, completes the 
structure. 
Nests left undisturbed may be repaired and occupied several years 
in succession, presumably by the same pair of birds, for it is believed 
that these hawks remain mated as long as both live. 
The five eggs ordinarily laid are not as handsome as those of many 
of the hawk family, being, as a rule, pale bluish or greenish-white, which 
speedily becomes much soiled. Sometimes eggs are found sparingly 
