HEN-HARRIER 



383 



elsewhere covered with transverse shield -Hke scales in front, and 

 smaller many-sided scales behind. This polygonal scaling of the 

 hind surface of the shank at once serves to distinguish a harrier 

 from a true hawk, such as a sparrow-hawk or goshawk, in which the 

 shank is also long, but covered behind with transverse shield-like scales.' 

 The two sexes differ markedly in colour when adult, the male of 

 the hen-harrier being for this reason locally styled the blue, or dove, 

 hawk, while his mate is known as the ring- tail. Their general 

 appearance and mode of flight render these birds easy of recognition 

 in the field ; and they are for the most part migratory to a greater or 



MOUNTED IN THE ROWLAND WARD STUDIOS 



HEN-HAKKIER (IMMATURE MALE). 



less extent, although some individuals of a species may be permanent 

 residents in particular districts. Unlike the majority of the hawk tribe, 

 they nest on the ground, or in reed-brakes ; their bluish-white eggs 

 being in general uniformly coloured, although in some cases sparsely 

 speckled with rusty brown. 



In the male hen-harrier the general colour of the upper surface is 

 uniform slaty grey, while the throat and breast are bluish grey, the 

 remainder of the lower surface white, and the bare membrane at the 

 base of the beak, and the legs and eyes yellow.-^ On the other 



• Owing to the discrepancies among authors, no attempt is here made to give the dimen- 

 sions of the species. In Sharpe's Handlwok to the Bh-ds of Great Britain, vol. ii. p. 126, the 

 length of the male is given as 22 and that of the female as 23 inches ; in Blanford's Fauna of 

 British India — Birds, vol. iii. p. 385, the corresponding dimensions are given as 18 and 21, 

 while in Harting's Handbook of British Birds, p. 23, the male is stated to be larger than the 

 female. 



