AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 47 



pastures, with occasional marshes, in every way admi- 

 rably suited to its habits. Though I believe the 

 principal food of this species to consist of reptiles 

 and mice, for the capture of which it is, by its owl-like 

 flight, admirably adapted, it is also most destructive 

 to the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds, the 

 Lapwing or Peewit being a frequent suiferer. The 

 Harrier also frequently surprises full-grown birds on 

 the ground by its stealthy and noiseless approach, 

 with which it would stand no chance in a trial of 

 speed on wing. My companion in the north of Spain 

 shot a fine adult bird of this species from the remains 

 of a full-grown Turtle-Dove, which it certainly could 

 not have caught in fair flight. In various parts of 

 our islands the Hen-Harrier is known by various 

 names ; in Devonshire it is Vuzkit, i. e. Furze-Kite ; 

 in Scotland I have heard it called Blue Glead ; 

 in Ireland Goshawk, no doubt properly Gorse- 

 Hawk ; whilst the female seems to be generally 

 known as Ringtail. The nests of this bird which 

 have come under my notice were composed of a mass 

 of dry sedge very loosely put together on a bare spot 

 amongst furze and heath; once on a ledge on the 

 bare stony bank of a Highland burn. The eggs are 

 generally four (I have heard of six), of a bluish white, 

 sometimes faintly freckled with small rust-coloured 

 spots. I have never succeeded in keeping this species 

 in captivity for any length of time, and have found 

 those which I have so kept wild and sulky. 



Since the above article appeared in our Nat. Hist. 

 Journal, I have become possessed of an adult female 

 of this species, killed by a gamekeeper near Colly- 

 weston, about the middle of November 1890. 



