Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-09-03


THE MARSH HAWK DID NOT FLY OFF WITH
ITS PREY.
perhaps, he continued on his course;
then, coming about with infinite grace,
he bore down upon me again. Back and
forth he circled, 'quartering" the coun-
try in a way which proved his title to the
name of 'harrier." All this time his
bright hazel eye was searching every
clump of weeds, every hollow in the
grass, every twig of the leafless bushes,
for a sign of his living prey. Presently
he caught sight of that which he sought,
for he checked his onward flight, and for
an instant hung fluttering in the air.
Then lightly he dropped into the grass,
where a lightning stroke laid low a
meadow mouse, whose soft, fat little
body offered scarcely any resistance to
these talons of rapier steel. The bird
did not fly off with it's prey in its claws,
as a sharp-shinned hawk would have
done, nor did he stop to devour the mouse
on the spot, as | have often seen a marsh
hawk do; it picked up the little rodent
with it's feet, and by a series of long
leaps through the grass, it reached a
rather more secluded spot, where it be-
gan to tear it's victim to pieces.
About a week later, I was walking
over the same open country, and again
l saw my old acquaintance the marsh
hawk. This time, however, he was not
alone, for in his company there was
.ao,opI,o+ 1orror hipJ 5arly ,,pohor
brown on the back, and with reddish
streaks on the head. This was his
mate, and, despite the difference in COL
Grafton, she had the characteristic
white patch on her rump. 1t was the
counting season, and, as | was anxious
to see the manner in which the marsh
hawk courted his bride. l hid myself
in a ditch which drained the meadows,
and waited. For an hour, perhaps,
nothing unusal happened. and | had
begun to fear that my patience was not
to be rewarded that day, when suddenly
the male bird foated into view, and be-
gan a series of evolutions such as | had
heard of, but never witnessed before.
After circling about as usual, he arose
in the air, stopped" almost to the
ground, rose again, tumbled somewhat
after the of a tumbler pigeon,
and in this way proceeded for some
distance, zig-zagging up and down, as
though bereft of his senses. And per-
haps he was, for wiser creatures than
marsh hawks do funny things when they
are in love. After doing his acrobatic
turn" he sailed away with the same
grace and lightness which at other
times characterizes his flight.
Presently his feelings overcame him
again, and again he sawed the air above
the marsh land, breaking into a grace
full sail at the end. Whether the female
bird was on the wing while this per-
Torrance was taking place, or watching
in silent rapture from some hiding-place
on the ground, I could not see from my
rather cramped position in the ditch, but
she evidently took the efforts of the male
in good part, for soon after they were
mated, as I discovered later.
The nest, which l found in May, was
made chiefly of coarse grass and twigs,
on the ground near the river. There
were four eggs in it, dull white, about an
inch and three-quarters in length, and
we'll rounded. The next time l visited
the nest, the young birds were ~hatched-
beautiful, bright-eyed little fellows, COW
cred with white down, and with black
bills and yellow legs. Atfirst they knew
no fear, but soon it came to them, as It
does to most wild things, and one day,
when their pin-feathers had started,
they greeted me by throwing themselves
on their backs and striking at me saw
agely with their little talons. Their
slender legs flew out as though propelled
by springs and their little black claws, as
sharp as fish-hooks, cut through my skin
at every stroke. Sometimes l would
take them some beetles or criciets, or a
frog from the n%eighboring marsh, and
after | had retired to a distance they
would squabble for the food, s~queaking
petulantly, as they swallowed mouthful
after mouthful. They grew very fast,
and as the down fell out and chung to
the sides of the nest, it was replaced by
trim-looking feathers, and they quickly
developed into slender-bodied birds,
with the graceful forms of their parents.
They somewhat resembled their mother
In coloring, but their upper parts we've
darker, and the under parts, instead Of
being buff like hers, were reddish.
The last time | visited the nest, the
young hawks, instead of waiting to fight
me when I approached, leaped from their
home into the surrounding grass, and
hoped away rapidly in every direction,
with their long wings raised high in the
air to steady them as they bounced along.
/ left them to regain their composure.
When | next saw them they were able
to shift for themselves. Sometimes they
might be seen alighting upon stakes near
the water, but usually they were skim
ming over the open country, making
things warm for the mice and other small
creatures which inhabit the marshes.