34 FALCONIDyE. 
returning in September and October. They commence to 
breed late in March. Their eggs differ very much in shape^ 
being sometimes round, sometimes elongated." — Favier. 
In Andalucia, as in Morocco, over all low wet ground, the 
Marsh- Harrier is to be seen in vast numbers, particularly in 
winter. Great quantities remain to breed, sometimes as 
many as twenty nests being within three hundred yards of 
one another. The latter, loosely constructed with dead 
sedges, vary much in size and depth, and are usually placed 
amidst rushes in swamps, but sometirnes on the ground 
among brambles and low brushwood, always near water, 
though occasionally far from marshes. They begin to lay 
about the end of March, and at that time fly up to a great 
height, playing about, and continually uttering their wailing 
cry. The eggs are bluish white, and usually four or five in 
number; they certainly vary in size and shape, and are 
often much stained. Like the eggs of all the Harriers that 
I am acquainted with, and many others of the Accipitres, 
when blown and held up to the light they show a bluish tinge. 
I once found a nest containing only one egg, nearly ready to 
hatch, and saw another with six eggs (three quite fresh and 
the other three hard sat on) . I believe that, if the first set of 
eggs be taken, they lay again in a fresh nest, as I found sets 
of fresh eggs as late as the 2nd of May. 
The Marsh- Harrier is a perfect pest to the sportsman, as, 
slowly hunting along in front, it puts up every snipe and 
duck that lies in its course, making them unsettled and wild. 
I have repeatedly seen them flush Little Bustards ; but these 
merely flew fifty yards to the right or left out of the Harriers' 
line of flight, and settled down again. 
Cowardly and ignoble, they are the terror of all the poultry 
which are in their districts, continually carrying off chickens, 
and, like other Harriers, are most terribly destructive to the 
eggs and young of all birds. 
On account of these propensities, I never let off a Marsh- 
Harrier unless it spoiled sport to fire at one. Sometimes, when 
at Casa Vieja and the snipe were scarce, we used to lie up in the 
line of the Harriers' flight to their roosting-places ; for they 
