142 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



void, chattering incessantly. Sometimes, if you lie 

 down, both birds will settle on the ground, the 

 female (ever the wariest) from eighty to a hun- 

 dred yards in front of you, the male directly 

 behind you, perhaps but fifteen paces distant. 

 Both now call spasmodically, one taking up 

 the querulous refrain immediately the other 

 ceases. 



The Hen-Harrier's cries are surprisingly feeble 

 for a bird of such imposing mien. Those of the 

 female may be aptly likened to a rapid, quacking 

 chatter, sounding like the syllables quik-ik-ak-ik- 

 uk-ik, the ik-ak sometimes being the quickest, 

 while sometimes there is a trifling interval between 

 that and the preceding quik. It is not pitched 

 entirely on one note, but runs riot among those 

 of an octave. Occasionally it sounds like quer-ik- 

 quik-ik-ak-ik-ik-ak-uk, and I think it very slightly 

 resembles the chattering trill of the Dabchick. 

 Exceptionally, a single sharp chek-uk is heard. 

 The male has two distinct notes. The first, his 

 normal one of annoyance at the nest elsewhere, 

 both sexes are generally quiet is not very unlike 

 that of the female, but it is not so prolonged, and 

 is pitched on one note, thus, quek-ek-ek-ek-ek. 

 The second is a squealing wail (which seems to 

 have escaped the notice of every writer-ornithol- 

 ogist, as has the difference between the ordinary 

 cry of the two sexes), only heard in the breeding- 

 season, a single squee, queal, or quee-ow, though 



