278 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



Mr. E. T. Filmer says that a specimen, the property 

 of Sir J. Dewar, that fell to the gun of Mr. Stickles, of 

 Orlestone, at one time gave the keepers of that district 

 a great deal of trouble. 



A Marsh -Harrier, according to Mr. AV. Prentis, was 

 shot in the woods at Rainham in June, 1867 ; it was of 

 a deep chocolate colour, head included, and was just 

 beginning to moult. 



HEN-HAERIEE. 



Circus cyaneus (Linnaeus). S.N., i., p. 126 (1766). 



The Hen-Harrier, like the preceding species, has be- 

 come rare in Kent, although in former days no doubt it 

 was plentiful and bred in the county. Boys includes it 

 in his Birds of Sandwich, 1792, and the Eev. J. Pember- 

 ton Bartlett (1844) says it is "not uncommon in Romney 

 Marsh." There is an immature male in the Maidstone 

 Museum obtained on Boxley Hills on January 8, 1885, 

 by Mr. A. F. Style. Mr. W. Prentis, in his Birds 

 of Rainham, says : " I once, when driving in the month 

 of August, had the pleasure of seeing a pair, an old grey 

 male and a brown female, circling round the centre of 

 a field of barley off the main road." 



MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 



Circus cineraceus (Montagu). Ornitli. Diet., 

 1, F. 2 (1802). 



This species appears to be a greater frequenter of Kent 

 than the two former birds. There is no doubt that it 

 used to breed freely in the large marshes of the county, 



