136 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



square-sided hills, with plateau-like summits, none 

 reaching to more than 800 ft. above sea-level ; 

 while, on the braes and in the long, sweeping vales 

 beneath, you shall behold a swaying sea of breeze- 

 tossed heather and riotous rushes, which often 

 reach to the height of the waist. Such is the 

 present home of our dwindling resident stock of 

 Hen-Harriers, for during autumn and winter 

 occasional specimens crop up in even the most 

 unexpected spots. At those seasons nearly every 

 county in England can periodically claim an example 

 or two, chiefly immature birds, which are even 

 seen by and passing over woodlands. 



Owing to the remoteness of its haunts as well 

 as to its great scarcity, comparatively few British 

 naturalists are really familiar with the Hen-Harrier. 

 Therefore, come with me to the breeziness of a 

 northern solitude. As you reach the moor this 

 May morning a pair of Harriers, one behind the 

 other, the female a plain brown bird, the male 

 resplendent in pale blue and silver mail, sweep 

 along the face of a hill. They are not hunting 

 now : the two seldom, if ever, hunt in company. 

 Then suddenly their paths diverge, the Ring- tail 

 (as the female is frequently called) gliding off to 

 quarter the rough growth in the valley below, the 

 male, like a small cloud of silver tinsel, drifting 

 along the flank of the brae. As the former crosses 

 the dip formed by the brae side and valley, she at 

 first flies fairly high, her long wings, of which the 



