3IO THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



bird swerves from side to side, careening gracefully, the ex- 

 panded tail acts as a rudder. When rising or soaring the long 

 wings curve upwards, the flight-tips separate ; the bird will at 

 times undulate, rising and falling as it flies. The Hen-Hariier 

 is a silent bird, but when angry has a quick, chattering cry, a 

 weak imitation of the hek^ hek^ hek, of the Peregrine. Mr. 

 Walpole Bond mentions the " squealing wail " of the female when 

 the nest is threatened. Small mammals — voles, mice, rats and 

 young rabbits — birds, frogs, lizards and insects are its food, and 

 it is a persistent robber of the eggs and young of other species. 

 As a rule it drops suddenly upon its unsuspecting prey, but I 

 have seen it in the Hebrides chase a small wader with dogged 

 determination. The wader saved itself from the pouncing 

 stoops of the Harrier by dropping to the water and diving as 

 the pursuer shot past ; swooping round, the Harrier hovered 

 above the small bird until it emerged from the water, and 

 stooped, though missing, as the fugitive again took the water. 

 This one-sided competition was interrupted by a passer-by. 

 In the Orkneys I have seen the bird boldly assaulted by Lap- 

 wings and Starlings when it was quartering the ground ; it 

 made no attempt to retaliate, but merely swerved from their 

 attacks. It will eat Starlings and larger birds ; I have known 

 a Coot and Teal to be killed and partly eaten. 



The nest is always on the ground, amongst heather or on a 

 small space trodden down by the birds amongst thick vegeta- 

 tion ; it is built of heather, sticks, rushes, grass or any con- 

 venient material, and may have a full soft lining of finer bents 

 or be practically unlined. It varies considerably in size and 

 finish, but untidy, badly constructed nests are probably second 

 efforts after first clutches have been destroyed. The four to 

 six eggs are usually laid in April or early May, and only one 

 brood is reared, but late clutches, the result of accident to the 

 first, are frequently found, and these are in hurriedly con- 

 structed nests, for the bird apparently does not lay again in a 



