HEN HARRIER. 



95 



to be hereafter more particularly adverted to. In the present 

 instance, the old male, from his almost uniform ash grey co- 

 lour as seen in the figure, is called provincially the Dove 

 Hawk and Blue Hawk ; and on account of a supposed par- 

 tiality to some part of the produce of the farmyard, by the 

 more general name of Hen Harrier. The female, called a 

 Ringtail, is brown : a representation of the head of one forms 

 the subject of the vignette, in which, from its spotted appear- 

 ance, the circular ruff around the face is distinctly seen. 



These birds inhabit flat marshy situations, fens, low moors 

 and commons, partially covered with furze and short bushes. 

 They feed indiscriminately on small mammalia, birds, and 

 reptiles : twenty lizards were found in the stomach of one 

 killed near London. They are considered to be particularly 

 destructive to the young of Gallinaceous birds. Their flighty 

 performed apparently without much labour, is easy and buoy- 

 ant, but not rapid, and generally within a few feet of the 

 surface of the ground, which they appear to examine Avith 

 great care, making close and diligent search for any object 

 of food, and have courage and strength sufficient to pounce 

 upon and kill a Partridge, a Red Grouse, or even a Phea- 

 sant. They have been observed to hunt the same ground 

 regularly ; and a male bird has been seen to examine a large 

 wheat stubble thoroughly, crossing it in various directions, 

 always about the same hour in the afternoon, and for many 

 days in succession. An interesting account of the habits of 

 the Hen Harrier in the North, by Sir William Jardine, and 

 from his own observations, will be found in a long note 

 appended to the article on the Hen Harrier, in his edition of 

 Wilson's American Ornithology, volume iii. page 392. 



The nest is placed on the ground ; the materials collected 

 to form it are but few, consisting of small sticks and coarse 

 grass : the eggs are four or five in number, white or of a 

 pale skimmed-milk blue, one inch eight lines long by one 



