126 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



bordered with a ligliter shade. Wing-coverts and 

 tertials varying, according to age, from dark reddish- 

 brown to ash-grey ; secondaries ash-grey ; primaries 

 varying from brownish-black to slate-grey. Tail 

 ash-grey. Chin and tln'oat almost white ; breast and 

 under parts reddish-brown, streaked with dark brown. 

 Legs and toes yellow ; claws black. 



The female is larger, and slightly duller in her 

 plumage. Both are subject to variation in colour, 

 according to age. 



Situation and Locality. — On the ground, amongst 

 sedges, reeds, ferns, and under furze and other 

 small bushes ; rarely in trees. On low, marshy, reed- 

 and water-covered land ; also unfrequented moors. 

 Professor Newton, in the latest edition of Yarrell, 

 issued 1874, says that ' ' the bird breeds regularly 

 in Devonshire, Norfolk, and Aberdeenshire ; " and Mr. 

 Dixon, in his "Nests and Eggs of British Birds," 

 issued just twenty years after, says that Norfolk is 

 the only county in Great Britain in which the bird 

 regularly attempts to breed. This is one among 

 many of the facts which serve to illustrate the 

 rapidity with which our rarer birds are being 

 banished. 



Materials. — Sticks, twigs, rushes, and reeds in 

 rather large quantities, lined wdth dead grass. 



Eggs. — Three to five or six. White, sometimes 

 slightly tinged with pale bluish-green or milk-blue, 

 and upon rare occasions marked with a few spots 

 of rusty-red. Size about 1*95 by 1'55 in. 



Time, — May. 



Bemarlis. — Eesident, but wandering. Notes : 

 male, Ixoi or Ixai ; female, pitz 'pitz, j^eep peep. 

 Local and other names : Duck Hawk, White-headed 

 Harpy, Moor Harrier, Moor Buzzard, Puttock, Marsh 

 Hawk, Bald Buzzard. Sits lightly. 



