118 MARSH HARRIER. 
In this country they are indigenous, remaining with us all 
the year round, in most of the counties of England and Wales; 
in Ireland, from Antrim to Cork; in Scotland and the Hebrides. 
Their numbers however, like those of so many others of the 
birds of prey, are becoming gradually fewer, and anything but 
‘beautifully less.’ From Scotland to Sussex an ornithological 
lament over the glories of the departed is raised. ‘Fuimus’ 
must soon be the motto of the Marsh Harrier, as well as 
of ‘the Bruce,’ 
They frequent, as the name suggests, open moors and wild 
plains, in which marshes or lakes are found, but appear to 
be partially ‘migratory. Attempts have been made to train 
them for falconry, but they have been found very intractable. 
The flight of these birds, which is not very swift, is light 
and airy, but unsteady. Occasionally they rise to so great a 
height as to be all but invisible to the eye, and at the time 
when the female is sitting, the male is often to be seen soaring 
above the nest, and performing a variety of attractive evolutions. 
They seldom alight on trees, even to roost at night, but resort 
to the concealment of beds of reeds, and in the day-time perch 
on a hillock, a rail, or the ground. They do not long remain 
stationary, but keep beating their hunting grounds in search 
of prey, and they often frequent the same locality for several 
days together, and follow the like course at the same hour 
of the day. 
The food of the Marsh Harrier consists of rabbits, water- 
rats, mice, and other small animals, whether found dead or 
alive; land and water reptiles, the young of geese, ducks, and 
other water-fowl, and of partridges; as also small birds, such 
as quails and larks; the eggs of birds, insects, and Bewick 
and others say fish, and Mudie large carrion. They take their 
prey from the ground or the water, not in the air. In the 
autumn they sometimes leave the moors, and come down to 
the coast in quest of sea-birds, perching on the rocks until 
they perceive any that they can seize. A singular anecdote 
of one of this species, communicated by Mr. R. Ball, is 
recorded in Mr. Thompson’s ‘Natural History of Ireland:’— 
‘One of these birds, which I had some years since, lost a 
leg by accident. I supplied it with a wooden one, and the 
dexterity it acquired with this stump, both in walking and 
killing rats, was astonishing. When a rat was turned out, 
the bird pounced at it, and never failed to pin the animal’s 
head to the ground with the stump, while a few grasps of 
