148 HEN HARRIER 
midable war against small birds, reptiles, and mice. The Harriers 
or Harrows are so called from their harrying propensities. Of similar 
import is the etymology of the English word ‘ havoc’, which may 
be clearly traced to the Anglo-Saxon hafoc, or hawk. The habit 
of the Marsh Harrier is not to station itself on a tree or rock, thereon 
to explore the country; but while hunting, it is always on the 
wing, skimming along the ground, and beating about the bushes 
with a noiseless, unsteady flight, and always taking its prey on 
the ground. MRabbit-warrens afford this bird a favourite hunting- 
ground, where it either pounces on such living animals as it can 
surprise, or performs the office of undertaker to the dead bodies 
of rabbits killed by the weasels, burying them in the grave of its 
craw. In this ignoble office it is said to be sometimes assisted 
by the Buzzard, and both birds have been accused of setting to 
work before their unhappy victim has breathed its last. On the 
seashore, the Marsh Harrier commits great depredations among 
young water-fowl, and is often mobbed and driven from the neigh- 
bourhood by the assembled old birds. The Partridge and Quail 
often, too, fall victims to its voracity, so that the Marsh Harrier 
receives no quarter from gamekeepers. It places its nest generally 
near water, in a tuft of rushes, or at the base of a bush, constructing 
it of sticks, rushes, and long grass, and lays three or four eggs. 
The Marsh Harrier is a widely dispersed species, being found, 
says Temminck, in all countries where there are marshes. It 
occurs now but sparingly in most parts of Great Britain and Ire- 
and. It is better known as the Moor Buzzard. 
HEN HARRIER 
CIRCUS CYANEUS 
Tail longer than the wings; third and fourth primaries of equal length 3 
upper plumage of the male bluish grey ; lower white. Upper plumage 
of the female reddish brown; lower, pale reddish yellow, with deep 
orange brown longitudinal streaks and spots. Beak black ; cere greenish 
yellow ; irides reddish brown ; feet yellow; claws black. Length, male, 
eighteen inches; female, twenty inches. Eggs white. 
Tue Hen Harrier and Ringtail were formerly considered distinct 
species ; and no wonder; for not only are they different in size, 
but dissimilar in colour, one having the upper parts grey, the lower 
white ; and the other the upper parts reddish brown, and various 
parts of the plumage of a light colour, barred and streaked with 
deep brown. The experienced ornithologist, Montagu, suspect- 
ing that they were male and female of the same species, under- 
‘took to clear up the matter by rearing a brood taken from the 
same nest. The result was that at first there was no great 
difference except in size, all having the dark plumage of the Hen 
