. 

 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 173 



HARRIER, ASH-COLOURED. See HARRIER, 

 MONTAGU'S. 



HARRIER, HEN. 



(Circus cyaneus.) 

 Order ACCIPITRES ; Family FALCONID.E (FALCONS). 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 eighteen inches. Beak short, much curved, bluish- 

 black, and surrounded at the base with black, 

 bristly feathers. Bare skin immediately round base 

 of beak, and irides yellow. Head, neck, back, 

 wings, and upper side of tail bluish- or ash-grey, 

 except the wing-primaries, which are almost black. 

 Some specimens have a mottled, rusty-brown spot on 

 the nape. Chin, throat, breast, and belly bluish- 

 grey, much lighter on the latter parts. Thighs, 

 vent, and under tail-coverts white. Under -side 

 of tail-quills very light grey, faintly barred with a 

 darker tinge. Legs and toes yellow ; claws black. 



The female measures about four inches longer ; 

 her bill is nearly black, and the bare skin round 

 the base tinged with green. Irides reddish-brown. 

 Crown and back of neck dark brown ; round the 

 face is a kind of ruff, the feathers of which are a 

 mixture of brown and white. Back and wings 

 umber-brown, except some of the coverts, which are 

 edged with rufous, and the primaries, which are of 

 a dusky colour. The tail-quills are dark brown 

 tipped with rusty-red ; the centre ones uniform in 

 colour, and those on the sides barred with lighter 

 rusty - brown. Throat and all the under - parts 

 reddish-buff, with a darker patch in the centre of 



