COMMON HARRIER. 305 



in the same manner, until at length, having obtained a 

 supply of savoury food for their young, they would fly 

 off with it. 



The direct flight of the common harrier is rapid, and 

 is performed by constant beats, its neck and legs re- 

 tracted, and its tail slightly spread. It sails at inter- 

 vals as it proceeds, and searches the ground or the 

 bushes in short circles with great assiduity. Its prey 

 consists of young birds of various kinds, of grous and 

 partridges, small birds, especially larks, young hares 

 and rabbits, mice, frogs, lizards, and serpents. It also 

 occasionally eats dead fish, and now and then venturer* 

 into the neighbourhood of the farm-house, and carries 

 off a chicken or a duckling. In fact, its occasional de- 

 predations have caused it to be named the hen-harrier, 

 although, as it does not carry off hens, it might with 

 more propriety have been named the chicken-harrier. It 

 sometimes perches on a stone, or the top of a knoll, 

 where it stands nearly erect, which is also its ordinary 

 attitude of repose. It does not confine its excursions to 

 the moors or the fields bordering them, but explores the 

 cultivated grounds, and sweeps along the hedges, where 

 it procures small birds, partridges, and mice. In gene- 

 ral, it does not pursue its prey in open flight like the fal- 

 cons, but seizes it on the ground, and in searching for it 

 occasionally hovers in the manner of the kestrel. In 

 flying over cultivated lands, intersected by walls and 

 hedges, it generally proceeds at a greater height than 

 whea over open uncultivated ground. If those persons 

 who imagine that birds of prey can perceive the ob- 

 jects of their pursuit at those immense distances al- 

 leged, were to study the manners of the hen-harrier, 



c c 



