1 88 The Field Naturalist' s Quarterly Aug, 



In company with my friend Mr J. Steele Elliott I went 

 over to Bala on 8th July, and visited the spot with the 

 keepers who had found the nest and killed the birds. It 

 was a fearfully hot day, and we found the three miles 

 tramp through heather up to our waists very fatiguing : we 

 had our reward, however, in obtaining several good photo- 

 graphs, one of which is here reproduced. 



I learned from the keepers that for several weeks back 

 they had seen the "hawks" flying to and fro over the 

 moor, which is here about 1200 feet above sea level. At 

 first they ranged over a considerable area, but afterwards 

 restricted themselves to the vicinity of one long ridge. 

 Then the brown (hen) bird ceased to be seen, though the 

 blue (cock) bird was still in evidence, particularly in the 

 mornings and evenings. He used to skim along over the 

 ground for a mile or so, returning on a parallel line almost 

 to the starting-point, repeating the manoeuvre till he had 

 in this way covered every portion of the space within these 

 bounds. The great length of wings and tail was remarked 

 by the keepers. Grouse are plentiful here, and the cocks, 

 who are very aggressive in the breeding season, on the 

 approach of the harrier would rush out with loud cries of 

 warning or anger. The keepers took it into their heads 

 that the harriers would molest the grouse, so determined 

 to destroy them. They found that the hen came off the nest 

 to feed just after sunrise, so one of them went up at night 

 and concealed himself in the heather near where he sus- 

 pected the nest to be. About 4 a.m. the hen returned from 

 feeding and disappeared at a certain spot. After waiting 

 some time and seeing no signs of her reappearance the man 

 ran forward rapidly to the spot, and there, in the midst 

 of the deep heather, was the nest ! The poor bird rose 

 almost at his feet and was shot. Thinking the widower 

 would probably return, the keeper set a trap at the nest. 

 His expectation was partially fulfilled ; the bird did return 

 but managed to avoid the trap, for when the nest was 

 visited next day the eggs were found covered with pieces 

 of dead rush ! Whether the cock had sat on the eggs 

 deponent sayeth not, but he had done his best to shield 

 them. He was shot next day, but only winged, so was 



