EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 17 



and more rarely elliptical. In size they vary from 2^ to 2 inches 

 in length and from 1*9 to 165 inch in breadth. 



Three more Buzzards are included in the list of British Birds, 

 viz., Buteo desertorum of Africa, and B. borealis and B. lineatus 

 of North America. Each has been recorded once, but the occur- 

 rence of these species is so rare, and in some cases even doubtful, 

 that I feel that there would be no interest in figuring their eggs 

 in a work devoted to British Oology. 



THE MAESH-HAKEIEE. 

 (Circus ceruginosus.) 



Plate 5, Fig. 4. 



The Marsh-Harrier still breeds sparingly in Ireland, but has 

 been exterminated from its former haunts in Great Britain. It 

 is found throughout Europe, as far east as the Valley of the Ob 

 and Turkestan. It visits India and parts of Africa in the winter. 



A nest found by me near Brunswick was in a large extent 

 of swampy ground, built in the middle of a bed of reeds. The 

 nest was very large, the outside composed of two-thirds reeds and 

 one-third small branches of trees, and the extreme diameter was 

 at least four feet ; but the outside was very loose and straggling. 

 It stood two feet above the surface of the water, and one could 

 see underneath the nest by stooping down. The inside of the 

 nest was neat and compact, measuring less than a foot across, and 

 warmly lined with dry flag-leaves and dry grass. The eggs are 

 from three to six in number, roundish in form and rough in 

 texture, the short eggs being usually the roundest. They are very 

 pale bluish-green (sometimes almost white), very faintly marked 

 with pale brown, or (more often) spotless or covered with nest- 

 stains like the eggs of Grebes. In size they vary from 21 to 

 1*8 inch in length and from 1"6 to 1'45 inch in breadth. The 

 eggs of the Marsh-Harrier are very small proportionately for the 

 size of the bird. 



THE HEN HAKBIEE. 

 (Circus cyaneus.) 



Plate 5, Fig. 2. 

 The Hen-Harrier was formerly a much more generally distri- 

 buted breeding bird in Great Britain, but is now confined to the 

 B 



