92 FALCONID.*. 



the species of this genus traverse the surface looking for prey, 

 like a dog hunting for game, they have probably acquired 

 the name of Harriers. The Marsh Hanier is said to roost 

 on the ground, and may be seen sitting on a stone or low 

 bush, seldom on a branch of a tree, looking out for objects 

 for food, which it strikes when on the ground, and is not 

 very particular in its choice, feeding on young rabbits or 

 other small mammalia, birds, — preferring water birds, — rep- 

 tiles, and, according to some authors, occasionally taking 

 perch and other kinds of fish. The nest is placed on the 

 ground, among long coarse grass, in a bunch of rushes, fern 

 or furze, or at the base of a bush. The nest is formed of 

 small sticks, rushes, or long grass : the eggs are three or four 

 in number, of an oval shape, rather pointed at one end, 

 white, two inches one line in length, and one inch six lines 

 in breadth. 



The Marsh Harrier occurs in most of the counties of 

 England and Wales ; in Ireland it has been ascertained, 

 according to Mr. Wm. Thompson, to exist also in several 

 counties from Cork to Antrim : it is found also in Scotland 

 and in the Hebrides. It inhabits Denmark, Norway, Swe- 

 den, and the South of Russia, Germany, France, Holland, 

 Spain, Italy, and Turkey. Mr. Strickland observed this 

 species at Smyrna ; and other naturalists have seen it at Tre- 

 bizond, Tripoli, and Egypt. Mr. Gould, in his Birds of 

 Europe, mentions having received specimens of this bird in 

 collections from the Himalaya Mountains ; and Major Frank- 

 lin obtained it in other parts of India. 



The whole length of a Marsh Harrier is from twenty-one 

 to twenty-three inches, depending on the sex of the specimen. 

 The figure here given was taken from an adult bird in the 

 British Museum, in which collection there are examples of va- 

 rious ages. In an adult niiile, the beak is bluish black, with a 

 slight festoon on the cutting edge ; the cere and irides yel- 



