In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 115 
will become almost, if not quite, as rare as the other. In 1867 I had 
a fine female Honey Buzzard, sent me alive, which had been captured 
at Eastbourne, having only been very slightly injured on the pinion. 
This bird was of a uniform chocolate-brown, not a single feather of 
any other colour being apparent. On receiving it I had great doubt 
as to whether I should kill it at once, and so perpetuate it in my 
collection, as its plumage was in beautiful condition—or whether I 
should endeavour to keep it alive through its autumn moult, which 
I felt would be more or less impracticable. However as I could not 
find it in my heart to kill it, I adopted the latter course, and for a 
time I was well rewarded. It grew very tame, and used to feed off 
my wrist like a trained falcon. But, alas! as I had all along foreseen, 
it perished in its autumn moult, and became such a mere bag of 
feathers, that I had to throw it away, without being able in any 
way to preserve it, or any part of it. I noticed in this bird the 
usual characteristic of its species—that, however darkly-coloured 
the bird may be, each feather is perfectly white at its base; a 
peculiarity which is declared before-hand, by the nestling, when 
newly-hatched, being covered with perfectly white down. 
Cireus Rufus, “The Marsh Harrier.” Last in order amongst 
the Faleconide we come to the Harriers—the link between the 
Hawks and the Owls—of which also there are three British species, 
by far the rarest of which, in this and the neighbouring districts, is 
the Marsh Harrier, or “ Moor Buzzard,” as it has sometimes been 
called. This species is known to vary greatly in plumage, according 
to age, which at one time caused many mistakes to be made about it. 
It is now uncommon in the Salisbury district, and for my own part I 
have never met with one near here. Mr. Rawlence, however, has 
three specimens, all from Wiltshire, one of them having been obtained 
near this city, and the other two from Kingston Deverill, near 
_ Warminster. Mr. Norwood, of Salisbury has also a fine pair of 
these birds but not local, as also has Mr. Hayden, of Fording- 
bridge, a mile or two only from our border ; while Mr. Hart informs 
me that he shot a fine pair of these birds himself, at Christchurch, 
in November, 1874, while one of the sailors a few days before killed 
a very richly-coloured bird of the same species. Last year also 
12 
