MARSH HARRIER 



MOOR HARRIER PUTTOCK MOOR BUZZARD- 

 DUCK HAWK. 



PLATE XX. 



Circus ceruginosus, . . . LINNAEUS. PENNANT. 



Marsh Harrier is spread over the whole of Europe, 

 1 Western Asia, and Africa. It was formerly abundant 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland, but is now extremely 

 scarce, and known to breed only in a few localities : the 

 drainage of the fens being the chief cause of its disappear- 

 ance, which has been so complete as a nesting species 

 that even Mr. Booth records that in all his wanderings he 

 never saw a nest. 



The nest is usually built among the high reeds which fringe 

 the margin of a lake, pond, or swamp ; in a tuft of rushes, 

 fern, or furze ; occasionally on a mound ; at the edge of a 

 bush ; on the top of a stump ; or in the hollow of the 

 branches of some tree in any of the former situations. It 

 is a rude fabrication, and is composed of sticks, with reeds, 

 flags, sedge, rushes, grass, or leaves, sometimes forming a 

 mass a foot and a half above the ground. 



In the south of Europe, where these birds breed freely 

 in suitable situations, they begin to lay by the end of March, 

 but in the colder regions of Denmark and North Germany, 



