36 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



more scarce ; whilst their breeding grounds are confined 

 almost entirely to such quiet and preserved localities as 

 Eanworth, Barton^ Horsey, and Hickling, where the 

 shriek of the railway whistle has not yet scared them 

 from their natural haunts. In the above districts a few 

 pairs of the marsh harrier, as I learn from the most 

 reliable sources, remain with us throughout the year, 

 and I feel justified, therefore, in still retaining the 

 moor buzzard, as this species is frequently termed, in 

 the list of residents, whilst at the same time I believe 

 that some migratory specimens occur at times. A nest, 

 with three young ones, was taken near Yarmouth in the 

 summer of 1862. Formerly, as Mr. Lubbock observes, this 

 species might fairly be termed " The Norfolk Hawk," so 

 universally was it spread over the whole district of the 

 broads, one or two being always observed in the day, during 

 a shooting or fishmg excursion. Adult specimens of this 

 harrier are extremely scarce, the examples obtained being 

 almost invariably young birds, and a large proportion 

 exhibit the straw coloured head, from which they have 

 been termed by some authors the white-headed harpy and 

 bald buzzard. It is, I tliink, rather generally supposed, 

 that these capped birds are in an intermediate stage of 

 plumage; but Mr. Newcome, who has had more oppor- 

 tunities of observing our British harriers than most 

 naturalists, assures me that it is very commonly the 

 case for young moor buzzards to have this light coloured 

 patch on their heads, though it is not always the case, as 

 he believes he has had birds from the same nest, some of 

 which presented this feature and others not. From my 

 own notes of late years, I certainly find that of the 

 specimens brought to our bird-stuffers, those with light 

 coloured heads are more numerous than those which are 

 brown aU over, and Mr. Hunt, in his "British Orni- 

 thology" (vol. 1, p. 50), remarks—" The Eev. G. Glover 

 favoured us with a note on this species, in which he says. 



