MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 139 



Specimens of Montagu's Harrier of either sex may 

 be readily cTistinguislied from those of the Hen-Harrier, 

 although about equal to them in length, by being much 

 more slender in shape, and not near so heavy, the average 

 weight of Montagu's Harrier being about nine ounces and a 

 <juarter, that of the Hen-Harrier about thirteen ounces ; the 

 tarsus is shorter ; the third quill-feather, or remex, of the 

 wing is also much more pointed, and the wings are also 

 longer in proportion, whence probably it is that the flight 

 of Montagu's Harrier is sufficiently difierent from that of 

 the preceding species to admit of easy recognition at a 

 considerable distance by any person conversant with the 

 appearance of the two birds on the wing : the present being 

 much quicker in its movements and more strikingly buoyant 

 than the Hen-Harrier. In their general habits and in the 

 sort of country to which they are most partial, however, both 

 species are very similar. 



The food of Montagu's Harrier consists chiefly of grass- 

 hoppers, reptiles, small mammals, birds and their eggs — 

 these last, if their size permit, being often swallowed whole. 

 In proof of its fondness for reptile food, Mr. Rodd has 

 recorded the fact that an example of this species, though its 

 attention was attracted by a trap baited with a rabbit, con- 

 tinued to hover about without jiouncing, but, on a viper 

 being substituted for the rabbit, the bird was immediately 

 caught. The nest and eggs resemble those of the Hen- 

 Harrier, but the former is more slightly built and the latter 

 are generally smaller, measuring from 1'72 to 1*51 by 1*39 

 to 1-25 in. While the hen is sitting, she is carefully at- 

 tended by the cock, who brings her food for which she flies to 

 meet him, and on his dropping it, will catch it in the air. In 

 this, as in several other species of birds-of-prey, incubation 

 often commences as soon as the first egg is laid, and conse- 

 quently it is not unusual to find a considerable difference 

 in the age of the young, which, according to Mr. Jenyns, are 

 usually hatched about the second week in June. 



Though at one time the most numerous species of Harrier 

 in the fens of the Eastern Counties, and that which, in spite 



