306 MARSH-HARRIER. 



only a solitary male, shot May 12th 18S1, has passed through his 

 hands in thirty years. Statements respecting its breeding in Aber- 

 deenshire, Banffshire &c., are simply incredible. Ireland offers 

 many more congenial situations ; and the bird was formerly 

 common about Lough Erne in co. Fermanagh, along the valley of 

 the Shannon, in co. Cork, and other districts ; but since 1840 the 

 keepers have nearly succeeded in exterminating it by the use of 

 poison. 



In Norway the Marsh-Harrier is of accidental occurrence, but it 

 nests in the south of Sweden, and in Russia is found in summer up 

 to Archangel, though not abundant north of the Volga. In Middle 

 and Southern Russia it is common, and, in the latter, resident ; but 

 from the northern districts it migrates in the cold season, as it 

 does — at least partially — from Poland, Denmark, Germany, Holland, 

 Belgium and the north of France. In the marshes of the Spanish 

 Peninsula, Italy, and the rest of Southern Europe it is abundant 

 throughout the year, as it is also in some parts of North Africa, 

 from Morocco to Egypt ; while in winter it has been observed in 

 Abyssinia and even in the Transvaal. Eastward it is found from 

 Asia Minor to Northern China and Japan ; migrating in the cold 

 season to Turkestan, Southern Siberia, India, and Ceylon. 



The nest, built of reeds and dry grass, is a large firm structure, 

 usually placed on a mass of sedge, .and occasionally on the lower 

 branches of a tree standing in or on the confines of a marsh. The 

 eggs, 3-5 in number, are pale bluish-white, seldom — if ever — with 

 genuine brown markings: average measurements 2 in. by i'5 in. 

 In the season the Marsh-Harrier is a sad destroyer of the eggs 

 and young of waterfowl ; but during the greater part of the year it 

 feeds on small mammals, birds, frogs and reptiles ; the scarcity of 

 the two latter in winter being one cause of its departure from the 

 north of Europe. 



Old males have the head creamy-white, streaked with umber ; 

 mantle brown ; primaries blackish ; rest of wings, and tail, silvery- 

 grey ; under parts buff, striped with brown on the breast and chest- 

 nut on the belly and thighs ; under-wing white. In the female the 

 mantle, tail and under parts are brown. Young birds are chocolate- 

 brown, but the males have the entire crown of the head buffish- 

 white, while the females have a yellowish patch streaked with brown, 

 on the nape only ; in subsequent stages the plumage of this species 

 varies greatly. Length : male 21 in. ; female 23 in. 



