48 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



away in the hope of getting a sight of one of 

 the birds, but in vain. 



The eggs of the Montagu Harrier number from 

 four to six, of a very pale bluish-white ground 

 colour, occasionally marked with a few reddish- 

 brown spots. They are smaller than those of the 

 last species, and the fact that the nest is always 

 placed upon the ground and not raised above it, 

 affords considerable help in the task of iden- 

 tification. 



HAWFINCH. 



IT is said that the Hawfinch has increased con- 

 siderably in numbers throughout England during 

 the last half-century or so. If this be the case, it 

 is sad to think what the bird might have achieved 

 but for the possession of a fatal weakness for green 

 peas. This vice brings it into violent collision 

 with the interests of the gardener, whose gun 

 thins its ranks every summer in the most alarm- 

 ing manner. One in Sussex tells me that on an 

 average he kills about a dozen every year in order 

 to protect his peas from their ravages, and that 

 the victims are mostly young birds of the season. 



The shy, retiring habits of the bird often 

 enable it to live in places where it is almost 

 unsuspected, so that a greater army of observers 

 better equipped with field-glasses may account to 

 some extent for the above-mentioned increase. 

 We have met with its nest in Surrey and Norfolk, 

 in the latter of which counties our illustration 

 was secured. 



It is essentially an English breeder, and selects 

 lichen-covered hawthorns, to which it seems most 



