This peculiar species has a long, slender, curved bill, blackish plumage, with white rump and bases of outer tail feather. They feed largely upon snails, both land and water varieties. They nest at a low elevation in bushes or under brush, often over the water. The nests are of sticks, weeds and leaves. The three eggs are light greenish white, spotted and splashed with chestnut brown. Size, 1.70 × 1.30. Nest in a custard apple tree, 6 feet from the ground, built of twigs, lined with small vine stems and willow leaves. [Illustration 204: White-tailed Kite. Mississippi Kite.] [Illustration: Bluish white.] [Illustration: Pale greenish white.] [Illustration: Everglade Kite.] [Illustration: left hand margin.] Page 203 [Illustration 205: NEST AND EGGS OF MARSH HAWK.] Page 204 331. MARSH HAWK. _Circus hudsonius._ Range.--Whole of North America, very abundant in all sections. The adult of this species is very light colored, and young birds of the first two years have a reddish brown coloration; in both plumages the species is easily identified by the white patch on the rump. They are, almost exclusively frequenters of fields and marshes, where they can most often be seen, towards dusk, swooping in broad curves near the ground, watching for field mice, which form the larger portion of their diet. Their nests are made in swampy ground, often in the middle of a large marsh, being placed on the ground in the centre of a hummock or clump of grass; it is generally well lined with grasses and often rushes. They lay from four to seven pale bluish white eggs, generally unmarked; size 1.80 × 1.40. 332. SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. _Accipiter velox._ Range.--Whole of North America, wintering in the United States and southward; breeds throughout its range, but most abundantly in northern United States and northward. This is one of the smallest of the hawks and in the adult plumage is a beautiful species, being barred below with light brown, and having a bluish slate back. It is a very spirited and daring bird and is one of the most destructive to small birds and young chickens. Its nest is a rude and sometimes very frail platform of twigs and leaves placed against the trunk of the tree at any height, but averaging, perhaps, fifteen feet. The eggs are bluish white, beautifully blotched and spotted with shades of brown. [Illustration 206: (Adult and young). Marsh Hawk.] [Illustration: Pale bluish white.] [Illustration: Bluish white.] [Illustration: Sharp-shinned Hawk.] [Illustration: left hand margin.] Page 205 333. COOPER'S HAWK. _Accipiter cooperi._ Range.--Whole of temperate North America, breeding throughout its range.