1902 MontagiL s Harrier in North Wales 187 



examined a young male Montagu's Harrier which was shot 

 by a keeper on June 6 about six miles north of Shrewsbury 

 (second record for Shropshire). Its plumage is in a tran- 

 sition state between youth and maturity, brown and grey 

 feathers being intermingled all over the body, whilst the 

 dark bar on the wing is not yet very distinct. 



Several writers on ornithology state that Montagu's Harrier 

 is more numerous than the Hen Harrier, whilst Rev. M. A. 

 Mathew goes so far as to state that " there is hardly a 

 county in England or Wales from which the nest has not 

 been reported." ^ As regards the six counties of North 

 Wales, I have for a considerable time been collecting par- 

 ticulars on the vertebrates from every available source. The 

 records of Montagu's Harrier are extremely scanty, only four 

 or five in all, and until lately I had no authentic record of 

 its nesting in North Wales. The following particulars of an 

 actual nest near Bala last year are therefore of special in- 

 terest : they are here set forth in rather more orderly fashion 

 than they reached me, since I only " came in at the death." 



During May igoi a pair of birds were seen from time 

 to time by different persons frequenting the grouse moors 

 around Bala. At first they were seen on the north side of 

 the Berwyns, but afterwards to the south. They had long 

 wings, and flew low down over the ground. From the de- 

 scription given it was thought that they were Harriers of 

 some kind, but the first intimation of their actual species 

 was the sight of the dead birds which were shown to me by 

 a Shrewsbury taxidermist, Mr George Cooke, on 24th June 

 1901. They were an adult pair of Montagu's Harriers, the 

 breast of the hen nearly bare and the plumage bearing other 

 signs that she had been sitting for some time. The male 

 measured 17^ in., wing 14I in.; the female 18^ in., wing 

 14J in. The larger bird had the shorter wing. 



On inquiry it was found that the birds had been killed at 

 the nest by a keeper ignorant of the rarity of the species, 

 whilst the eggs had been taken to Colonel Burton of Bala, 

 who kindly lent them to me to replace in the nest while 

 photographing it. He still has the eggs ; the birds are now 

 in the collection of Sir H. B. Robertson at Pale. 



^ British Birds, vol. iii. p. 99. 



