HEN-HARRIER. 133 



one forms the subject of the vignette, in which the circular 

 ruff around the face — a character more or less exhibited by 

 all the species of the genus, is distinctly seen. Though it 

 had been previously supposed by many naturalists that the 

 Hen-Harrier and the Eingtail were the male and female of 

 the same species, others held the opinion that they were 

 distinct, and Montagu seems to have been the first who 

 actually and clearly jjroved that the remarkable difference 

 between these two birds was but a sexual peculiarity. 



These birds inhabit flat marshy situations, fens, low moors 

 and commons, partially covered with furze, heather, sedge 

 and low bushes. They feed indiscriminately on small mam- 

 mals, birds, and reptiles : twenty lizards were found in the 

 stomach of one killed near London. They have been con- 

 sidered to be particularly destructive to the eggs and young 

 of gallinaceous birds, and consequently their destruction has 

 been much compassed by those who desired to preserve their 

 poultry or their game, though the almost entire disappearance 

 of this and the other species of Harriers from their chief 

 haunts, especially in the east of England, is due rather to 

 agricultural improvements which have brought into cultiva- 

 tion large tracts of what was formerly waste land. Their 

 flight, performed apparently without much labour, is easy 

 and buoyant, but not rapid, and, except in the breeding sea- 

 son, generally within a few feet of the surface of the ground, 

 which they examine with great care, making close and diligent 

 search for any object of food. They have been observed to 

 hunt the same ground regularly ; and a male bird has been 

 seen to examine a large wheat- stubble thoroughly, crossing it 

 in various directions, always about the same hour in the 

 afternoon, and for many days in succession. 



The nest is placed on the ground ; the materials collected 

 to form it are ordinarily but few, consisting of small sticks 

 and coarse grass ; when however it is placed on low wet 

 ground, so large a quantity of flags, sedge and reeds are 

 brought together as to raise it from eighteen inches to four 

 feet above the surface, as Mr. Hewitson was informed by one 

 of his correspondents. The eggs are four or five in number, 



