102 The Harriers 
To the sportsman they are an ever-present trial, for they are 
constantly on the look-out for wounded wild-fowl or Snipe and 
they have a knack of suddenly appearing from nowhere and annex- 
ing a wounded bird within sight but beyond shot of the gunner. 
Any bird not immediately picked up by the shooter is sure to be 
devoured by these diligent searchers. The rapidity with which they 
do this is both surprising and annoying. Not long ago I dropped a 
Wigeon dead on the top of a grassy bank about 50 yards across 
a river; not having my retriever with me I walked down to a ford 
not half a mile off and crossing, returned along the opposite bank 
to pick up the bird. But in the brief interval a Harrier had been 
down and had eaten the best part of the Wigeon’s breast! It 
may be taken as a rule that any duck shot at evening flight 
which are not picked up at the time will be found by the Harriers 
at dawn and devoured. Now and again, if a goose or duck 
chances to fall on its breast amid the reeds, it may perhaps escape 
notice for a few hours, but the sportsman who has failed to pick up 
his birds overnight will in most cases find them picked clean when 
he reaches the spot next day. What between the prowling foxes 
which carry off any wounded birds that may reach the shore and the 
water tortoises, which devour those which may fall into the dense 
reed-beds, the chances of recovering wild-fowl lost over-night 
are indeed smal. 
I do not know any bird of prey which is so thoroughly at 
home among the waters of the big lagunas as the Marsh Harrier ; 
many pairs may be described as being semi-aquatic in their habits. 
During the winter months from my shooting punt I see them 
habitually resting and roosting in the clumps of dead reeds a mile 
or more from the foreshore, whilst in the spring they invariably 
nest in the dense beds of bulrush or reeds, which at this time of 
the year are usually 8 ft. to 9 ft. in height. Most commonly they 
seize upon the nest of some luckless Purple Heron, adding insult 
to injury by first eating the big blue eggs of that bird. 
