BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 19S 



So great is the difference that the birds were once 

 thought to be distinct species, and the female is still 

 sometimes called by the name ' Ring-tail/ from the bars 

 on the tail. The male is called ' Blue-Hawk ' or ' Dove- 

 Hawk,' or wrongly receives such titles as ' Goshawk.' 



The nest is placed on the ground on a bare moor or 

 in a grain-field. It may be a slight or a bulky structure 

 of roots and herbage. The eggs are from four to six in 

 number and of a bluish-white colour, sometimes with 

 yellowish or reddish markings. The female begins to 

 incubate late in May, continuing for about three weeks. 

 The young are of the usual accipitrine type. 



THE MARSH-HARRIER 



(Circus seruginosus). 



The Marsh-Harrier is an even rarer member of the 

 group, having been very seriously affected by the drainage 

 and reclamation of many formerly marshy districts which 

 it frequented. The head is creamy-white in colom*, with 

 dark streaks ; the upper-parts are brown ; the under- 

 parts are buff, streaked throughout. The eggs are of 

 an unspotted bluish-white colour. 



MONTAGU'S HARRIER 



(Circus cineraceus). 



Montagu's Harrier was only a summer visitor at any 

 time, and that only to the southern half of Great Britain, 

 where a few pairs still nest, or attempt to do so, notably 

 in East Anglia, that last resort of so many of our 

 vanishing native birds. In the male the upper-parts are 

 bluish gray in colour, and the under-parts white ; the 



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