HAWKS AND HAWK-LIKE BIRDS. 165 



MARSH-HARRIER.— Plate 7 6. Length, 2 1 inches. 

 Head creamy-white, with dark streaks ; upper parts 

 brown ; the longest wing-feathers blackish ; remainder 

 of wing-feathers and the tail silvery-gray; under 

 parts buff, streaked throughout. Principally spring 

 and autumn migrant. 



The Marsh- Harrier, formerly nesting abundantly 

 in the fen country and tlie marshy parts of these 

 islands, is now practically extinct as a breeding 

 species. It occurs, however, as a spring and autumn 

 migrant from the Continent, in the west of England 

 and Wales, beating over the open marsh lands with 

 leisurely flapping wings and at a moderate height 

 above the ground, to which it descends from time to 

 time to capture frog or reptile, small mammal or bird. 

 The presence of a uniformly gray tail and rufous 

 thio-hs in a bird of these habits distinguishes the Marsh- 

 Harrier from other Harriers appearing in these parts. 

 The under surface of the wings is largely white. 



MONTAGU'S HARRIER.— Form, like Hen-Harrier 



(plate 75). Male: 18 inches. Upper parts blue-gray, 

 becoming lighter near the tail, the latter with cross- 

 bars alternately light and dark ; the large outer 

 wing-feathers black, the inner ones gray, with black 

 cross-bars ; a frill of gray feathers round the throat ; 

 throat and breast ash-coloured ; under parts white, 

 with ruddy longitudinal streaks ; bill hooked and 

 dark ; feet yellow. Female : 1 9 inches. Brown 

 above, becoming white at the root of the tail ; the 

 latter also brown, with alternately light and dark 

 cross-bars ; head, hind-neck, and sides of neck, as 



