162 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



them, to recover position. There he goes, he is in 

 the middle of them, and comes out with a teal in his 

 claws. 



Francis Barlow, the English painter who was 

 born in the moist country of Lincolnshire, and died 

 in 1702, has left behind him some grand pictures of 

 bird life in the marshes. I have gazed at one of 

 them I know, in a private collection, for hours. The 

 size of the canvas, to the best of my recollection, is 

 about twelve feet by ten. The painting represents a 

 marsh harrier dashing into a team of wild ducks. 

 They are painted to the life. These sportsmen 

 painters know what they are about when they take 

 the pencil in hand. Francis Barlow must also have 

 been a most accurate observer, for the bird repre- 

 sented is in the adult plumage. 



Some might take positive exception to the state- 

 ment that a marsh harrier has been seen on the flats 

 so late as the early winter months, for the bird is 

 considered by some to be a regular migrant ; others 

 believe him to be only partially one. They must 

 settle that among themselves. Most birds move or 

 migrate more or less. They may leave one portion 

 of a county, and you might think there was not a 

 single one to be found ; and then you will acciden- 

 tally come on them in great numbers in some corner 

 of that same county. 



