i6o LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



nest of the Hen Harrier is always made upon the 

 ground, often amongst long heather or gorse, less 

 frequently on barer ground. A nest of this Harrier 

 we examined in Skye was made in an almost im- 

 penetrable heather thicket; and we were assured 

 by gamekeepers in the island that sheep broke 

 many eggs of this bird in wandering over the hills. 

 The nest is usually a mere hollow scantily lined 

 with dry grass and surrounded with a few twigs. 

 Sometimes the nest is much larger, a foot or more 

 in height, yet made of similar material. The eggs 

 are from four to six in number, bluish white, rarely 

 marked with a few rusty spots. The Hen Harrier 

 is a very conspicuous bird on the mountain moors, 

 looking like a Gull in the distance, and its slow, 

 measured flight increases the similarity. But one 

 breed is reared in the season, and the eggs are 

 incubated by the female. The note of this species 

 has been described as an oft-repeated ker. 



The adult male Hen Harrier has the general 

 colour of the upper parts and the breast a clear 

 slate grey ; the rump and the under parts below the 

 breast are white ; the quills are black, but the tail 

 is grey, like the upper plumage generall3^ The 

 female has the general colour of the plumage 

 brown, palest on the under parts, which are streaked 



