THE HARRIERS. I29 



male is extremely vigilant, and as soon as he perceives an 

 enemy, he comes towards him with a cry, and suddenly utter- 

 ing a note like "ker-ker-ker," produced at short intervals, he 

 continues to charge and reveals at once the situation of the 

 nest. The female will not budge from the nest, and is not 

 more wary even after she has been fired at. Both parents are 

 very assiduous in their care of the young ones. 



Eggs. — From four to six in number, bluish-white in colour, 

 with occasionally yellowish-brown or rusty markings. Axis, 

 1 7-2 "o inches; diam., i"25-i'5. The Hen-Harrier is rather 

 a late breeder, and lays its eggs towards the end of May and 

 throughout the month of June. 



11. Montagu's harrier, circus pygargus. 



Faico pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 148 (1766). 



Circus cineraceus^ Mont.; Macg. Brit. B. iii. p. 378(1840); 



Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 138 (187 1) ; Seeb. Brit. B. i. 



p. 131 (1883). 

 Circus pygargus^ Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 64 (1874) ; 



Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 423, pL 328 (1878) ; B. O. U. List 



Br. B. p. 93 (1883) ; Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 309 (1889) ; 



Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xxvii. (1893). 



Adult Male. — General colour above bluish-grey, the wing- 

 coverts slightly darker than the back, and having a terminal 

 spot of dark ash-colour ; primary-coverts and secondary-quills 

 silvery-grey, narrowly tipped with white, and crossed by two 

 bands of black, very plainly seen on the under surface of these 

 quills ; primary-quills black, the inner ones shaded with grey 

 towards the tips and on the inner web ; upper tail-coverts 

 white, ashy-grey at the tips, with a sub-terminal shade of deep 

 ashy colour, and sometimes with two ashy-grey bands ; tail- 

 feathers cindery-grey, the two central ones uniform, the re- 

 mainder crossed with five broad bars of ashy-black, more 

 rufous on the outer feathers, which have the interspaces white ; 

 lores whitish ; the facial ruff cindery-grey like the head ; throat 

 and breast pale bluish-ashy ; abdomen, flanks, thighs, and 

 under wing- and tail-coverts white, with distinct longitudinal 

 streaks of rufous fawn-colour ; axillaries with large diamond- 

 shaped cross-markings of rufous; cere greenish-yellow; bill 



8 K 



