Bill very slender and much hooked, the lower mandible being decurved somewhat, to match the upper; the cutting edge of the bill without a tooth or notch, as most hawks and kites have. Lores naked and yellowish, like the cere; eyes red. Plumage blackish; rump and bases of outer tail feathers, as well as tip white. This tropical species is found in the United States, only in the southern half of Florida, in the densest swamps, being fairly abundant in the Everglades. They are said to feed exclusively upon a certain species of water snail, and each bird has a particular perch to which he takes every snail he captures, and after skillfully extracting the animal with its curiously modified beak, it drops the shell on the mound beneath. (Bendire).
Nest.—Of twigs, lined with leaves and weeds, placed at low elevations in bushes or underbrush, often over water; eggs pale greenish-white, spotted with brown.
Range.—Southern Florida.
MARSH HAWK
331. Circus hudsonius. 19 in.
Upper tail coverts and base of tail white. Male, blue-gray above; below, whitish, streaked and barred with rusty. Female and young.—Above rusty brownish-black; below rusty with dusky streaks on the breast and sides. As shown by its name, this hawk is found most abundantly in or around marshes or wet meadows. I have found them especially abundant in boggy marshes such as frequented by bitterns. Their flight is quiet and owl-like, and as they do most of their feeding toward dusk, they often seem like owls as they flit by without a sound. Their food is composed chiefly of meadow mice and moles, which they spy and dash down upon as they fly at low elevations.
Notes.—A shrill whistle when their nest is approached.
Nest.—Of grasses, on the ground in marshes; four plain bluish-white eggs (1.80 × 1.40); May, June.
Range.—Breeds locally in the whole of the United States and Canada, north to Hudson Bay; winters in the southern half of the United States.