146 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



taking short, restless flights. Each time after 

 alighting she shook out her entire plumage and 

 kept moving her tail up and down this is a fre- 

 quent habit of Harriers when on the ground. 

 Presently an impudent Hoodie, on mischief hent, 

 deliberately altered his course to tilt at her. Neither 

 bird called out, but the Harrier, fearing for her 

 egg, I suppose, rose immediately and hung about 

 just above the nest until the ' grey-back ' was an 

 indistinct speck on the sky-line. 



' Seldom is a Harrier's nest a work of art, but 

 this particular one, probably because it was 

 undoubtedly a second attempt, was by far the most 

 slovenly affair I have ever seen or heard of. It 

 was simply a haphazard accumulation of a few 

 heather branches arranged in rough circular form, 

 and the lining if it deserved that epithet at all 

 consisted of seven wisps of cotton-grass, half a 

 dozen bits of broken rush, and a fragment of moss. 

 The ' egg-cup,' measuring Gin. across in a whole 

 of 17 in. by 15 in., was only ^ in. lower than the 

 rim of the surrounding structure, and a good deal 

 of down adorned the nest as well as the adjacent 

 heather. ' ' 



Other nests, however, which I have examined, 

 have been more substantial, the largest usually 

 being those built amongst tall heather. Most nests 

 are in the valleys, right at the base of the hills, 

 amongst mixed heather and rushes of medium 

 height; sometimes in heather or rushes. Many 



