BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 19 



case in the instance mentioned by Miss Carey. 

 Mr. Howard Saunders also says he can bear witness 

 to the egg- eating propensities of the Harriers. 



Besides the two recorded by Miss C. B. Carey, I saw 

 one — a young bird — in Mr. Maxwell's collection, 

 which had been killed at Herm, and another — a 

 young male — at Mr. Jago's, the bkd-stuffer, which 

 had also been killed at Herm. There were also two 

 young birds in the bird-stuffer and carpenter's shop 

 at Alderney, both of which had been killed in that 

 Island shortly before my last visit, June, 1878. 



As mistakes may occasionally arise in identifying 

 specimens, especially in immature plumage, it may 

 be as well to notice a distinction between the Hen 

 Harrier and Montagu's Harrier, which has been 

 pointed out by Mr. Howard Saunders, and which 

 holds good in all ages and in both sexes. This 

 distinction is, that in the Hen Harrier the outer web 

 of the fifth primary is notched, whereas in Mon- 

 tagu's Harrier it is plain, or, in other words, the 

 Hen Harrier has the exterior web of the primaries, 

 up to and including the fifth, notched, and in 

 Montagu's Harrier this is only the case as far as 

 the fourth.* This distinction is very useful in 



* See * Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., pub- 

 lished in the works of the Societe Zoologique de France, 

 where he says : — " C. cerugmosus et C. cyaneus ont les 

 hsiercs exterieui'es des remiges emarginees, jusqu'a et y com- 

 prise la cinquieme, et cette forme se trouve en presque toutes 



