41 



of this and the marsh harrier, all killed in the same locality 

 ("Zoologist/ 5 p. 8765); these birds appearing still partial 

 to their former haunts, though now so changed in 

 character and unsuited to their nesting habits. Mr. 

 Lubbock mentions Grimston common, near Lynn, and 

 the neighbourhood of Thetford, (meaning most probably 

 the fen district below Brandon,) as places where the nests 

 of this harrier used to be found ; and the following notice 

 in the "Zoologist," p. 1496, from Mr. C. B. Hunter, 

 of Downham Market, records the occurrence of two 

 nests in that district in 1846 : " On the 23rd of May I 

 took a nest of this rare bird with two eggs in it, and on 

 the 13th of June another nest with two eggs also. The 

 eggs in both were quite fresh, and there would probably 

 have been five in each. The nests were composed of 

 dead grass and sedge laid closely together on the 

 ground. The eggs in one were spotted with brown." 

 The male specimen (No. 23. c) amongst the " British 

 Birds" in the Norwich museum, was taken when young, 

 with four others, from a nest at Feltwell some years 

 back, and attained its present appearance in confine- 

 ment ; and the young and very dark female (No. 23.e) in 

 the same series was killed near Yarmouth, in September, 

 1853, and was most probably bred in that neighbour- 

 hood. This bird is extremely interesting as exhibiting 

 a melanism in the plumage of this species, occasionally, 

 though rarely noticed in foreign as well as British 

 specimens, and which thus, accidentally as it were, com- 

 pletes the chain between the moor buzzard and the 

 ordinary harrier type. Mr. Gurney, who has met with 

 several examples of this variety, informs me that "the 

 old male is of a very dark smoky grey, the female and 

 young an entire purplish chocolate brown." Two 

 French specimens, an adult male and a nestling, will 

 be found in the Eaptorial collection of the Norwich 

 museum, and Mr. Gurney has also seen another female 

 a 



