Circus hudsonius. 
Bethel, Maine. Marsh Hawk chases a bird. 
1907 
July 18-22 
( 2 ) 
clutch at it with his talons I was very certain. That he could 
have seized and held it with ease and certainty seemed perfectly 
obvious. No doubt he was merely playing with or perhaps bullying 
it, as Hawks of various species are prone to do when not hungry, 
not only when it pleases them to frighten some of the defenceless 
creatures on which they prey but also when dealing with smaller 
and weaker birds of their own kind which perhaps anger them by 
poaching on their chosen preserves. 
While the two birds above referred to were in close contact 
they performed the most rapid and intricate e^ofoTLons,turning and 
twisting incessantly, now rising fifty feet into the air, next 
swooping down nearly to the tips of the waving grasses. They sep¬ 
arated before reaching the woods but the Marsh Hawk did not give 
over the pursuit until he was nearly lost to my sight among the 
trees. Then he turned back and proceeded to beat the field in the 
leisurely, graceful way characteristic of his kind. When I saw 
him last he was floating off to leeward over some thickets, driven 
like a tuft of: thistle down before the strong northwest wind. 
