FALCONID^. 



315 



THE MARSH-HARRIER. 



Circus ^ruginosus (Linnteus). 



This species, known as the Moor-Buzzard so long as ' moor ' 

 retained a signification alhed to ' mire ' or ' marsh,' can now be 

 barely included among our indigenous birds. The principal cause 

 of its decrease in England has been the drainage of the fens in 

 the eastern districts, and the reclamation of the marshy wastes in 

 Somerset, Dorset, Shropshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and some other 

 counties, where it used to breed until within the last thirty or forty 

 years. Sometimes a pair or two attempt to rear their broods in the 

 Broad-district of Norfolk, but are rarely, if ever, allowed to succeed, 

 and I know of no other county in which this Harrier has recently 

 nested ; though migrants from the Continent occur in spring and 

 autumn, reaching Western England and Wales. In Scotland the 

 Marsh-Harrier is very rare, even in the Solway district which is not 

 altogether unsuited to its habits ; the only example Booth ever saw 

 was an immature bird in East Lothian ; single instances are on 

 record from Dumbartonshire as well as from Scalpa, near Skye ; 

 Mr. Macleay of Inverness has received but one in all his long 

 experience ; Mr. G. Sim of Aberdeen tells me that only a solitary 



