148 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



The eggs may vary in size, even in the same 

 clutch : and, for the size of the bird, they are 

 always rather small. They are from four to eight 

 in number, generally from four to six, while a 

 * three " is sometimes found in a second nest. 

 Their colour is, in the main, a dull white, or very 

 pale bluish-white, an effect produced by the bright 

 green interior of the shell, which, faintly amal- 

 gamating with the white, chalky external covering, 

 causes some specimens to take on the tint of 

 'skim milk." The shell is thick and coarse, 

 devoid of gloss (except when the eggs are highly 

 incubated), and curiously pitted. An egg is laid 

 only every other day. The chalky shell readily 

 absorbs stains. Consequently, specimens are often 

 met with blemished with brown, yet genuinely 

 rusty -marked eggs do occur occasionally, though 

 these markings are usually few and faint. 



The female is often a marvellously close sitter, 

 so much so, that you may pass within a yard or 

 two of her and yet fail to flush her : but, of course, 

 the closest sitter is that bird which has its nest in 

 thickest cover. If, however, the bird has been 

 disturbed several times, she is apt to rise from ten 

 to twenty yards away. At first, often chattering 

 weakly, the Hen-Harrier literally flutters off her 

 eggs, awkwardly as any fowl, her yellow legs 

 dangling for some moments before being whipped 

 up under her expanded tail. Then, after hanging 

 round for a few seconds, she slants up and climbs 



