138 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



his pale, slaty -blue back and mantle set off by the 

 black of the primaries, there his delicate grey 

 throat and upper-chest and under-parts of snow. 

 Indeed the tyro might well mistake him for a 

 Gull, though in reality, if he is like one at all, it 

 is the Kittiwake, which you do not encounter 

 quartering moors, though some other species of 

 Gulls do so almost habitually, at all events in 

 spring and summer. The expert, however, even 

 at a great distance, recognises directly the 

 characteristic Hawk-like flight, owing to the fact 

 of his wings being not so bent at the carpal joints 

 as any Gull's, not to mention his totally different 

 method of quartering ground. At long range he 

 might pass muster for a male Montagu's Harrier; 

 but at any reasonable distance his white rump 

 precludes any such error, the rump of the male 

 Montagu being grey; besides, he boasts no dark 

 bars on his wings. Moreover, the breeding-haunts 

 of the two species are usually dissimilar. 



Now watch the male bird hunting. Whether 

 it is that his pale plumage warns his intended 

 victims, or whether it is that he indulges in it 

 for mere sport, no hawk is more persevering or 

 seems to hunt longer for a meal. Regularly 

 about the same time every day a favourite beat is 

 patrolled, and at first the grey bird works along 

 the mane of the hill in leisurely fashion, some 

 thirty feet from the ground. This is hardly 

 hunting, and next moment he hangs against the 



