ASH-COLOURED HARRIER. 235 



abundance is not nearly to be compared with that 

 of its nearly allied congener; and Mr Gould states 

 that it is common in the fens of Cambridgeshire 

 and Lincolnshire.* The habits of the two birds, 

 so far as we know, are very similar, the same 

 gliding buoyant flight, and low manner of hunting 

 along the ground, surveying the cover, and occa- 

 sionally hovering to examine some likely spot. 

 The nest is also similar. That discovered by 

 Mr Tucker was made on the ground among 

 furze. Temminck remarks, that it breeds in the 

 vicinity of marshes and lakes abounding with 

 reeds ; and more lately, in his Supplement, that it 

 is very common in the marshes of Holland, much 

 more so than the Common Harrier. European 

 specimens of the male and female in our posses- 

 sions may be thus described : 



The upper parts, throat, and breast of the male, 

 dark blackish grey, darkest on the back and shoul- 

 ders ; first six quills nearly black, greyish at the 

 tips, the seventh lighter in tint, and the others fol- 

 lowing it becoming paler still ; secondaries of a 

 pale blackish grey, marked across the centre with 

 a clouded black bar ; tail lengthened, pale grey, 

 centre feathers uniform in tint, the others grey 

 on the outer webs, and marked with clouded bars 

 across the inner, nearly black on the first pair, 



* Birds of Europe. 



