322 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



Circus cineraceus. — Montagu's Harrier — Arthur Strickland has 

 procured this and the foregoing species [Hen Harrier] in all stages 

 from the nest, though now seldom met with. Jno. Heppenstall has 

 a male from Thome Moor, where it bred ; the nest was placed amongst 

 the long heath {Calluna vulgaris), which grows to a considerable size 

 on the borders of wet places. F. O. Morris reports two pairs being shot 

 near Doncaster in 1835 ; and H. Reid says one was killed, by the 

 late Mr. Brodrick's gamekeeper, about ten years ago, and is now in the 

 possession of the Rev. R. Lucas of Edith Weston. H. Chapman also 

 reports having had the bird, which is, nevertheless, of rare occurrence. 



This species appears formerly to have been more widely 

 distributed in this county than either of its congeners, the 

 Marsh and the Hen Harriers, and it also was the last of the 

 genus to depart from its former haunts. Even yet it may 

 occasionally breed on some of the less frequented moors, as, 

 indeed, I have information of its doing, so recently as the 

 present year, 1906. The species can now, however, only be 

 regarded as a casual visitor to the coimty, occurring most 

 probably in the autumn, at which season it is observed in 

 limited numbers as an annual migrant in the eastern counties. 

 The earliest notices are given in Allis's Report, and it is 

 also reasonable to presume that the bird bred in the carrs 

 near Doncaster, where two pairs were shot in 1835. 



Mr, John Braim records in Morris's " Naturalist " (1855, 

 p. 214), that in July 1854, a male was shot on the moors near 

 Whitby, the female being seen, and three eggs taken from the 

 nest. One of the eggs and the head of the bird are now in 

 my possession. 



Mr. A. Clapham of Scarborough observes that some years 

 ago — unfortunately he cannot give the year — Mr. Lloyd's 

 keeper brought to him in June a pair of these Harriers in the 

 flesh, along with their two young birds in down, and some 

 addled eggs, obtained as Crosscliffe, Hackness, near Scar- 

 borough. The plumage of both the old birds was peculiar, 

 being of a " dull slaty mixed colour." The two sexes were 

 very similar in plumage and size ; the female being so 

 diminutive that were it not for the fact that she was procured 

 at the same time as her mate and the young, she might have 

 been mistaken for a male bird. 



