Circus hudsonius . 
Corxcord, llass. Why in a good shin the 'bill must point upward. 
1897. It is notoriously difficult to mahe a good shin of a 
Nov. 3. llarsh Hav/h. The chief trouble is with the feathers of the 
fore nech which v/ill not lie smoothly or "cover" well unless 
the nech be raised and the head arranged v/itli the bill point- 
ing straight upward after the manner in v/iiich Owl shins are 
now usually made The explanation occurred to me 
this morning as I was watching a llarsh Hawh. beating a meadow. 
I noticed that the bird held his bill pointing straight down- 
ward the whole time he was vvlthin range of ray glass. On re- 
flection I remembered having observed the saane fact many times 
before but for the first time it occurred to me that this po- 
sition of the bird head and neck must be the only natural and 
easy one for a bird whose whole life, practically, is spent 
shimming low over fields and meadows with its eyes scanning 
the ground directly beneath. Wlien one comes to think of it 
there are fev/ birds that search for food in this 'way and of 
these such as I am familiar witlijviz. the Turkey and Black Vul- 
tures and the Mississippi and Swallo’w-tailed Kites have much 
the same way of carrying the head as the Marsh Hawk while with 
the Kites at least the skin must be made after the manner a- 
bove described in order to get the feathers of the neck to lie 
smoothly. 
I squeaked up the Marsh Hawk seen this morning bringing 
