30 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
plumage is not assumed till the third moult. Birds 
of a greater age assume more of the ash-grey 
colour, especially on the wing-coverts and _ter- 
tials. The above descriptions are all taken from 
Yarrell. 
Hewitson says the egys of the Marsh Harrier, 
although for the most part white or slightly tinted 
with blue, are sometimes also spotted or smeared 
with brown, in the same manner as those of the Hen 
Harrier, to be next described. 
Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus. The Hen Harrier, 
though at one time tolerably numerous, has now 
become, like the last species, almost extinct in this 
county; and probably, to judge by the stuffed speci- 
mens I have met with, as well as the occasional 
mention of its capture, is not, and never was, so 
common as Montagu’s Harrier, the bird next to be 
described, though both have now, unfortunately, 
almost entirely disappeared. 
The food of the Hen Harrier appears to consist 
principally of birds, of which it must destroy a good 
many, as would appear from the following note in 
the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1866 (Second Series, p. 141):— 
“On dissecting a Hen Harrier I found in the sto- 
mach three pairs of legs of birds, one pair having 
belonged to a Sky Lark, the other two pairs to some 
smaller birds: there was also the bill of a Sky Lark 
and one of a Thrush.” Small animals, as well as 
reptiles, appear to be nearly equally acceptable: of 
