26 Lost British Birds. 



same spot, that, provided only a single pair survives to 

 represent the indigenous race, the ancestral haunt will not 

 be deserted ; but if that last native pair be destroyed, their 

 place is rarely, if ever, again filled, even though many repre- 

 sentatives of the species on their migratory course may visit 

 our shores in spring ; for these too are seeking some far-off 

 home, and the local race may thus pass away for ever." 

 Practically the Kuff and Keeve have so passed away. We 

 have already seen in Stevenson's account of the black-tailed 

 godwit's extermination, that for twenty years after that 

 mournful event one or two pairs annually returned to the 

 old haunts and attempted to breed. That is the case with 

 the ruff and reeve at present. Professor Newton believes 

 that one pair still annually nest at Hickling, Norfolk, but 

 only to have their eggs " poached." 



Mr. John Cordeaux writes (Zoologist, 1890), "The occa- 

 sional appearance of Buffs and Reeves in the future on our 

 coast district, during the periods of their double passage, 

 may reasonably be expected, but, unless England becomes 

 dispeopled and uncultivated, nothing can ever bring back in 

 numbers or variety the wealth of the ancient avi-fauna." 



XIII. HEN HARRIER Circus cyaneus. Marsh 

 Harrier, Ruff and Reeve, and Hen Harrier, have come to 

 the end of their existence as British species almost if not 

 quite simultaneously. Harriers are birds of the open 

 moorland and marsh and nest on the ground ; it follows 

 that in a country where no interval of mercy, or Close Time, 

 is extended to birds of prey, they are less able to escape 

 destruction than the species which nest in cliffs and trees 

 falcons, kites, and buzzards. Of Harriers we possessed 

 three species ; of these the ash-coloured or Montagu's 

 Harrier still remains, but in fast diminishing numbers ; and 

 it may now be set down among those birds whose extinction 

 is merely a question of time. Of the three British species 

 the Hen Harrier (the adult male) is undoubtedly the 

 handsomest. From the soft blue grey colour of its plumage 



