CHAPTER ELEVEN BIRDS OF PREY 



IN the autumn my partridges suffer much from the 

 hen-harrier. As soon as the corn is cut this bird ap- 

 pears, and hunts the whole of the low country in the 

 most determined and systematic manner. The hen- 

 harrier, either on the hill side or in the turnip field, is a 

 most destructive hunter. Flying at a height of only a few 

 feet from the ground, he quarters the ground as regularly 

 as an old pointer, crossing the field in every direction; nor 

 does he waste time in hunting useless ground, but tries 

 turnip field after turnip field, and rushy field after rushy 

 field, passing quickly over the more open ground, where he 

 thinks his game is not so likely to be found. The moment 

 he sees a bird, the hawk darts rapidly to a height of about 

 twenty feet, hovers for a moment, and then comes down 

 with unerring aim on his victim, striking dead with a 

 single blow partridge or pheasant, grouse or blackcock, 

 and showing a strength not to be expected from his light 

 figure and slender though sharp talons. 



I saw on a hill-side in Ross-shire a hen-harrier strike a 

 heath hen. I instantly drove him away, but too late as the 

 head of the bird was cut as clean off by the single stroke 

 as if done with a knife. On another day, when passing over 

 the hill in the spring, I was attended by a hen-harrier for 

 some time, who struck down and killed two hen grouse 

 that I had put up. Both these birds I contrived to take 

 from him; but a third grouse rose, and was killed and 

 carried off over the brow of a hill before I could get up to 

 him. There is no bird more difficult to shoot than this. 

 Hunting always in the open country, though appearing 

 intent on nothing but his game, the wary bird, with an in- 



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