By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 355 
Another, a young one, at about the same date, was killed at West 
Lavington, at Mr. Beckett’s, and is now in the possession of Mr. 
Hayward, at Easterton. 
“‘ Marsh Harrier,” (Circus eruginosus.) The Harriers differ from 
the Buzzards in their more slender and elegant form, their 
longer and more naked legs, and especially in the distinct ruff of 
close-set feathers, which surrounds their face ; their flight, though 
not swift, is light and buoyant, and they are able to continue it 
for a considerable time: from their habit of sweeping over the 
surface of the ground, at no great elevation above it, and in this 
manner hunting for game like dogs, they have derived the generic 
name “ Harrier:” their prey consists chiefly of small quadrupeds 
and reptiles, but occasionally they will take birds as well. Yarrell 
adds that a remarkable trait in the whole genus is, that the males, 
when adult, are all more or less ash grey in colour, while the females 
retain their original tints of red or brown. The Marsh Harrier is 
the largest of our three British species, being about 22 inches in 
length: Bewick, who places it erroneously among the Buzzards, 
gives it the provincial name of Harpy, though why it was so styled I 
cannot discover. Though formerly not by any means uncommon, I 
have not heard of the recent capture or occurrence of one of these 
birds in Wilts. It loves marshy districts and moors, from which it 
derives the specific name “ Marsh” Harrier, and the provincial one 
of “ Moor” Buzzard, and here in a tuft of grass or rushes it makes 
its nest. In the fenny districts of England and Wales it was 
formerly very abundant, but now even in its favourite haunts it is 
becoming scarcer every day, and will doubtless soon be extermi- 
nated, owing to the draining and reclaiming of waste lands, which 
however profitable to the agriculturist, is annually destroying many 
of our most interesting birds. 
“Hen Harrier,” (Circus cyaneus.) Far more common than the ° 
last, at any rate in this part of England, is the Hen Harrier or 
Ringtail, for Montagu in this country, and Mr. Temminck on the 
continent, have both clearly proved, what is now universally 
acknowledged by ornithologists, that these two titles apply to the 
same bird, though to the two sexes, which when adult differ 
3 B2 
