104 The Harriers 
Next in point of numbers to the Marsh Harriers is Montagu’s 
Harrier (C. ceneraceus), a species not always easy to tell on the wing 
from the Hen Harrier (C. cyaneus), the best-known English species, 
and the Pale-chested Harrier (C. macrurvus). In all these three the 
adult males are of a delicate slate grey with black tips to their 
wings, whilst the females are generally brown in appearance. 
Montagu’s Harrier, whilst at times nesting in marshes, also resorts 
to heaths and dry localities. Colonel Irby found a colony of over 
twenty pairs breeding in a marsh in Morocco. 
Although I have constantly come across all these species, my 
daily companion at all times of the year when in the low-lying 
country is the Marsh Harrier. Watching them as I have, at all 
seasons and in all sorts of places, now when waiting for duck to 
flight or perchance in spring-time when watching some marsh-birds 
nesting or again when crouching low during a Bustard or Wild 
Goose drive, one marvels at their undefeated pertinacity and 
unceasing efforts to find their prey. That they are extremely 
guick-sighted is plain from their mode of life and methods of 
hunting. All the same, I have frequently outwitted them when 
I have been lying prone; then, while | remained perfectly motion- 
less, they have sometimes been so engrossed in their minute inspec- 
tion of what lies below as to pass within close shot. Their boldness 
is at times remarkable. In January 1907 I was lying up waiting 
for wild-fowl, concealed amid some matted scrub and _ herbage. 
I had killed a Grey-lag Goose and some duck and had set them 
up on forked sticks to act as decoys, close to the foreshore and 
within 30 yards of my position. Presently an adult male Marsh 
Harrier came beating up-wind along the water's edge and upon 
spying the decoys made a dive at them, but apparently suspecting 
that something was wrong, alighted within a few feet of a Pintail 
drake. I was curious to see what he would do as I imagined he 
would hardly be able to lift so heavy a bird. Next moment the 
