RING-TAILED HARRIER. 373 



deviating. It is not, however, known to soar to a great height 

 like the Buzzards and Eagles ; but, when satiated, retires to 

 some quiet place, or perches on a wall, a stone, or a stump, until 

 digestion is advanced. Although its large eyes and ears would 

 indicate a disposition to prey at night, I am not aware of its 

 having been seen abroad later than the Sparrow Hawk. On 

 obtaining its prey, it usually devours it on the spot, carrying 

 it off only when it judges itself liable to be molested. It has 

 obtained a reputation for its exploits in the poultry-yard, which 

 with more propriety belongs to the Sparrow Hawk, although 

 there is no reason to doubt its occasional abduction of a chicken. 

 In its rambles, it searches the cultivated fields, as well as the 

 pastures, but in summer and autumn is partial to heaths and 

 commons ; and in such places it reposes at night, and rears its 

 young. 



This species, although nowhere very common, is generally 

 dispersed, and in some districts pretty numerous in the breed- 

 ing season. In Scotland, it betakes itself to the hilly tracts 

 and moors from the middle of spring to the end of autumn ; 

 but in winter frequents the lower cultivated districts. It is a 

 permanent resident, and does not appear to receive any acces- 

 sion of numbers, or to undergo any periodical diminution. Be- 

 ing easily approached when it has young, and even when in- 

 tent on searching for food, it is frequently killed by game- 

 keepers and others, so that specimens are easily obtained, and 

 besides the six in my collection, I have examined probably 

 thirty. In respect to frequency, it ranks, I think, next to the 

 Buzzard, although there are districts in which it is extremely 

 rare. Thus, I had one sent to me from West Lothian as an 

 unknown species of Hawk, and in the northern isles it is very 

 seldom met with. Owing to this partial scarcity of the spe- 

 cies, I have not been favoured with any observations respecting 

 it by my correspondents ; and as I have never had the good 

 fortune to find its nest, I am obliged to refer to a very valuable 

 account of its breeding by Sir William Jardine, in a note in 

 his Edition of Wilson's American Ornithology : — 



" In a country possessing a considerable proportion of plain 

 and mountain, where I have had the greatest opportunities of 



