The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 47 
old male Marsh Harrier flew within a few feet of us, and we 
might easily have shot it. Sir Hugh Owen has informed us of 
one shot some years ago on Jordanston Moor, not far from 
Fishguard, and of another that he saw hovering over the legions 
of wild fowl on the decoy at Orielton. There is one in the 
plumage of the first year in Lord Cawdor’s collection that was 
shot near Stackpole Court. Writing about the birds to be 
found in the neighbourhood of Laugharne, the Rev. C. M. 
Phelps says: “People speak of a bird they call the ‘ Duck 
Hawk.’ He is represented as a big fellow, and given to attack 
the various kinds of sea and freshwater Duck that come sailing 
up the Laugharne river with the flowing tide. One sunny 
morning, some four years ago, I, myself, saw some such Hawk 
of considerable size on a sandbank near the mouth of the Tave. 
He flew across the estuary to the Warley Point before I could 
make him out. What can this ‘Duck Hawk’ be?” To this 
question of Mr. Phelps we are able to reply that the ‘* Duck 
Hawk” is one of the old names of the Marsh Harrier, the bird 
being very fond of attacking and feeding upon wild fowl, and 
the bird frequenting the Laugharne river may, with all proba- 
bility, be referred to this species. 
HEN HARRIER, Circus cyaneus.—Resident, but becoming scarce. 
Fifty years ago the Hen Harrier was, no doubt, as Mr. Tracy 
describes, “‘ common, breeds on heaths and furzy moors, pretty 
generally distributed over the county.” But this bird is, at the 
present day, but sparingly represented, and that only in the 
wilder parts of the county. The larger raptorial birds soon fell 
victims to improved sporting fire-arms, and to more general 
game preserving, and the Harriers in particular being quite 
defenceless at the breeding season, from their habit of laying 
their eggs upon the ground, were easily found and either trapped 
or shot. It is a wonder there are any remaining. When Snipe 
shooting over the remoter and wilder districts in the north of 
the county, we have frequently come across the Hen Harrier, 
and have had the opportunity of shooting many in all stages of 
