CHAPTEE IX. 



HEN-HARRIERS . 



ABOUT sixty years ago the Hen-Harrier* was a 

 familiar moorland bird in the West Country, in 

 certain parts of Wales and the "Lakes," in many 

 of the wilder mountain districts of Ireland and 

 Scotland, including the Hebrides and Orkneys, as 

 well as in the fens of East Anglia. Nowadays, 

 it has been banished from most of these haunts 

 by trap and gun. A few pairs, however, linger 

 in Cambria, in the Green Isle, possibly in Corn- 

 wall, Dorset and Devon, and particularly in 

 some of the larger islands off the Scottish coast. 

 It is doubtful if any exist as breeders in 

 Scotland itself. 



The Hen-Harrier the male, at any rate is 

 no mean ornament to the few spots it still fre- 

 quents. It is a real moorland gem, and a shy 

 creation of heather-clad hill and misty mountain- 

 side, where Short-eared Owls, Merlins, Grouse, 

 Plovers, and Curlews find a home : appropriately 

 might it be termed 'Mountain-Harrier." Its 

 present head-quarters, however, comprise no 

 majestic heights, but merely show a series of squat, 



* Circut> cyaneus (L. ) 



