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 alow and flat district, this was placed about 
a hundi’ed 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 toTiave 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 1887, 1 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 siz'e. 
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, 
1837, 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 pnlustris, and carry it off in its talons with the nest! A pair were 
