62 Mr. P. W. Munii on the Birds 



most extraordinary sounds. These birds are most frequently- 

 seen in pairs. 



90. Circus .erugixosus. (Marsh Harrier.) 



Very plentiful in the cold season in the jheels and open 

 country surrounding them ; they remain frequently until the 

 middle of April^ but leave the district during the hot 

 weather and rains, returning again in September. Birds in 

 dark brown plumage with yellowish-white heads are most 

 plentiful. 



They feed principally on frogs, fishes, and snakes, and I 

 have seen one trying to carry ofE a fish, in shallow water, 

 nearly as heavy as itself. 



91. Circus cyaneus. (Hen Harrier.) 



Plentiful during the cold season, ari'iving and departing 

 about the same time as C. aruff'mosus, and inhabiting the 

 same sort of country as that bird. 



This Harrier often preys on Snipes which have been shot by 

 sportsmen and which it carries off before one can pick them 

 up. I saw one, flying low over some standing rice, flush a 

 Snipe and, after chasing it for a short distance through 

 all the twists and turns in its flight, strike at it, catch it in 

 its claws, and instantly drop down among the paddy to 

 devour it. I drove off" the Harrier and picked up the Snipe, 

 which was quite dead, but none of it was yet eaten. 



92. Circus melanoleucus. (Pied Harrier.) 



A cold-weather visitor, but not common ; rai'cly more 

 than one or two specimens are to be seen in a jheel where 

 there are, perhaps, dozens of the other two sorts of Harriers. 



93. AsTUR BADius. (Shikra.) 



A common resident and generally distributed. Breeds 

 during April and May, building a nest not unlike an untidy 

 Crowds. I took three eggs from a nest on May 10, 1891, 

 and a month later the birds had again laid in it and I took 

 two eggs. The crop of one that had been shot contained 

 the remains of a lizard and an unfledged young bird. I have 

 seen one of these Hawks visit nests of Sturnopastor contra 

 and prey on the young. 



