BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 179 



HARRIER, MONTAGU'S. Also ASH-COLOURED 



HARRIER. 

 (Circus cineraceus.} 



Order ACCIPITRES ; Family FALCONHLE (FALCONS), 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about 

 seventeen inches. Beak short, upper mandible 

 much curved and nearly black. Skin round base 

 of beak bare, and greenish-yellow. Irides bright 

 yellow. Head, neck, back, and wing-coverts bluish- 

 grey. Primaries nearly black ; secondaries marked 

 by three bars. Tail-quills, on the sides, white, 

 barred with bright rust colour ; centre feathers 

 bluish-grey. Chin and throat brownish-grey ; breast, 

 belly, and under-parts white, streaked with bright 

 rust colour. Legs and toes yellow ; claws black. 

 The wings are very long and narrow. 



The female is about nineteen inches long. Beak 

 black ; bare skin at base, dull yellow. Irides hazel. 

 Crown and back of head reddish-brown, with spots 

 of a darker tinge. Over and under the eye is a 

 streak of grey. Back and wings dark umber-brown ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts orange-brown and 

 white. Side feathers of tail barred with brown of 

 two shades ; breast and all under-parts light red- 

 dish-brown ; claws black. Both sexes of this bird 

 vary considerably, according to age and individual. 



Situation and Locality. On the ground, amongst 

 heather, ferns, long grass or rushes, furze, and low 

 brushwood ; on moors and heaths in Norfolk, Kent, 

 Pembrokeshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Devonshire, 

 and Somerset. Very rare, and on a fair way to 

 total extinction, so far as the British Isles are 

 concerned. 



