148 CIRCUS CINERACEUS. 



CIRCUS CINERACEUS (Montagu). 

 ASH-COLOURED HARRIER. 



§ 460. O^^e.— England (?). From Mr. R. Mansfield, 1844. 



Mr. Mansfield said he was certain that this egg was a Montagu's 

 Harrier. I believe it to be so from its size. This species is com- 

 moner than is generally supposed, being overlooked from its near 

 resemblance to the Hen-Harrier. 



[This last remark of Mr. WoUey's, written now nearly twenty years ago, 

 and at a time when Circus cineraceus was usually considered to be a rare bird 

 in England, I believe to be quite correct. In the fens of the Eastern Counties, 

 as, in 1853, I had the pleasure of informing' INIr. Hewitson (' Eggs, B. B.' 

 ed. 3. p. 44), it certainly maintained its gi-ound longer than either of the other 

 two British species; and, from the inquiries I have made, I suspect it 

 was there always the most abundant of them. Feltwell Fen, in Norfolk, as I 

 have learned from Mr. Newcome, was a favourite place of resort in former 

 days for the Ash-colom'ed Harrier.] 



§461. Two. — Whittlesea, Huntingdonshire, 1845. 



These two specimens I had from Mr. Osborne, of Fulbourn. He 

 knows the birds well, and I have not the slightest doubt of their 

 authenticity. They were probably taken out of a nest in Wood- 

 Walton Fen, near Whittlesea Mere, for the express purpose of seeing 

 which, and a Hen-Harrier's nest, I went over from Cambridge. The 

 eggs were gone out of both. The former was made of leaves of dried 

 grass, and was flight ; but not so slight as, and of less coarse material 

 than, the Hen-Harrier's. On going down the river [Cam] to BurweU 

 Fen one day last May or June [1845] (the former month, I believe), 

 we rowed past Vipers, of Upware, who was coming up in a punt. 

 As we returned from Burwell, he told me he had in the boat 

 with him a Montagu's Harrier and three eggs. He also told me 

 there were two pairs breeding in Wicken Fen this year — a very 

 rare thing now. He hoped to get the other pair, and would let 

 me have them for a pound, and sixpence for each egg. I had 

 seen the birds soaring about; but on my return in a few days, 

 he had not got them. He told me many curious particulars of their 

 habits ; their action in choosing a nest, the male selecting a spot, the 

 female approving or disapproving it, as she thought fit ; of the male 



