HARRIERS 25 



the hen bird came into the possession of Mr. J. W. 

 Lloyd of Kington, Herefordshire. Formerly when 

 common enough to have a local name, the female 

 Harrier was known as the " Ring-tail," from the 

 white feathers encircling the base of the tail. 



MONTAGU'S HARRIER. Circus cineraceus (Montagu). 

 PL 1, figs. 5, 6, 6a. Length, ^18 in., $ 19 in. ; wing, 

 ^ 15 in., $ 15-5 in. ; tarsus, $ 1*5 in., $ 1-75 in. 



A spring and autumnal migrant, occurring an- 

 nually in the south of England, where it breeds. 

 Rare in Scotland, and seldom seen in Ireland, where 

 the few specimens procured have been met with 

 between Dublin and Wexford {Irish Naturalist, 

 1898, p. 50 ; 1899, p. 232 ; and 1900, p. 21). 



In ]\Iontagu's Harrier the outer web of the fifth 

 primary is not notched as in the Hen Harrier, 

 and the third primary is one inch longer than the 

 fourth. Occasionally a sooty - black variety is met 

 with. Montagu's Harrier has been known to breed 

 in Yorkshire on several occasions, as on Thorne 

 Waste; at Hackness near Scarborough; near Whitby; 

 on Barden Moor in Upper Wharfdale, where both 

 old and young birds were taken in 1860 ; and near 

 Bridlington as late as 1871. In June 1875 a pair 

 of Montagu's Harriers nested on the furze-covered 

 downs above Ventnor in the Isle of Wight. I ac- 

 companied Mr. Howard Saunders expressly to see 

 the nest 171 situ, and we had a good view of both 

 the parent birds. One of the young ones was reared 

 and sent to the Zoological Gardens. (See Field, 



