138 THE MARSH HARRIER. 



The Marsh Harrier or Moor Buzzard. 



(Falco JEruginosus.) Linn. (Circus Rufus.) Selby. 



" Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty, 

 Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest, 

 While discontents at home, and vast confusion waits 

 (As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast) 

 The imminent decay of wrested pomp." — King John. 



In colour the marsh harrier (which is the largest of the three) 

 resembles the buzzards, and forms the close connecting link 

 between the genera Buteo and Circus. The upper parts are 

 deep umber brown ; the lower reddish brown. The upper part 

 of the head, neck, and throat are white, tinged with yellowish 

 brown. The primary quills are blackish brown, the rest of a 

 lighter tint, margined with grey. The tail is light brown, 

 tinged with grey. The plumage is soft and blended. The ruff 

 on the face is not so conspicuous as on the other two. The 

 wings are long, broad, and much rounded. The tail is also long 

 and slightly rounded. The bill is brownish black ; base tinged 

 with yellow. The iris orange ; cere, greenish yellow ; tarsi and 

 toes, rich yellow ; claws, black. The nest is on the ground, 

 amongst furze or fern — made of sticks, rushes, or grass — some- 

 times in the fork of a large tree. The eggs, usually four, are 

 nearly white, tinged with blue, and sometimes slightly spotted 

 and smeared with brown. They are less than the buzzard's, 

 being 1-| inches, against 2 J inches long. They breed early in 

 May. The male is 21-J inches long and 49 in extent of wings ; 

 tail, 10 inches. The female is 24 inches; extent of wings 52 

 inches j tail scarcely 10 inches — coloured like the male. 

 Although this bird does not breed in Fife, I have given this 

 brief sketch — to enable my young friends to identify it — as a 

 condensed history of the British birds. Being a marsh frequenter 

 it is more numerous in the south than in the north of Scotland, 

 and was once common in the fens of Cambridge, Norfolk, and 

 Lincolnshire. But what the clearance of the woods and wilds 

 round Priormuir has done to the buzzard in Fifeshire, the 

 draining has done to the fens of England. The moor buzzard 

 was the first to cease breeding in Norfolk ; then the hen harrier ; 

 and, lastly, the ash-coloured species. And, as if to bear out 

 what I wish to impress upon my readers, the difference in 

 coloured eggs (which also holds good as to the materials of nests 



