MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 31I 



disturbed nest. The eggs are dull white (Plate 125) or tinged 

 with blue, and in damp situations are frequently stained ; rarely, 

 they are faintly marked with brown. The female sits closely 

 and is fed by the male ; he will hover above her and drop his 

 gift, which she will spring for and catch in the air. 



The male is pearly grey with almost black primaries ; the 

 grey on his breast shades into white on the belly ; the upper 

 tail-coverts in both sexes are white, though sparsely spotted in 

 the female. The bill is blackish, the cere, legs and irides 

 yellow, the claws black. The female is a larger bird and her 

 facial disc, bordered with buff, is more noticeable. She is 

 brown above with paler markings on the wings, buff tips on the 

 coverts forming bars ; the crown is streaked with dark brown. 

 The tail is barred with bluish grey and brown. The under 

 parts are warm rufous, streaked with dark brown. The irides 

 in the female and in the more rufous immature birds are brown. 

 Length, 19 ins. (male), 21 ins. (female). Wing, I3*4-I4 ins. 

 Tarsus, 2"6 ins. 



Montagu's Harrier. Circus pygargus (Linn.). 



Montagu's Harrier (Plate 129), a migratory species, is a 

 summer visitor to Britain. It breeds in the central and 

 southern parts of the western Palsearctic region, and winters 

 so far south as Ceylon and Burmah in Asia and the Cape in 

 Africa. A few pairs, thanks to protection, nest in East Anglia, 

 and occasionally elsewhere in England and Wales, but to 

 Scotland and Ireland it is a rare straggler. 



Protection has saved Montagu's Harrier from extinction, but 

 it is uphill work, and not only are the nests frequently robbed 

 on account of high prices offered by collectors, but the birds 

 are shot by thoughtless gunners, and, not infrequently, by 

 gamekeepers at the instigation of sportsmen who think more 

 about their own pleasure than the preservation of interesting 



