

THE HARRIERS. 



135 



Eange outside the British Islands. The Marsh-Harrier is found 

 generally throughout Europe in suitable localities, but does 

 not extend very far north, though it breeds in Southern 

 Sweden, and as far eastward as the Valley of the Ob, an,d even 

 extends to Turkestan. It has never been recorded from 

 Central or Eastern Siberia, being replaced in the latter country 

 by Circus spilonotus, a very distinct species, easily recognised 

 in its adult plumage, but scarcely distinguishable in its young 

 stages from C. ceruginosus. The supposed occurrence of our 

 Marsh-Harrier in Japan is doubtless a mistake, and the species 

 which has been found there must be C. spilonotus. The 

 winter home of the Marsh-Harrier is in the Indian Peninsula, 

 where it is also believed by Mr. Hume to breed, when the 

 flooded condition of the country renders suitable spots avail- 

 able, and it is also said to wander as far as the Transvaal in 

 South Africa, though here it meets with an allied species, 

 C. maurus, the young of which is so very similar to that of 

 C. ceruginosus, that great caution is necessary in the deter- 

 mination of specimens from the countries inhabited by other 

 species of Marsh-Harriers. In most of the Mediterranean 

 countries the species breeds, receiving a great influx of indivi- 

 duals in the winter, when the birds bred in the north flock 

 southward on migration. 



Habits. Like the other Harriers, the present species feeds 

 on small mammals, snakes, and other small reptiles, and also 

 devours a large number of eggs and young birds. It will also 

 take sitting birds by surprise, but does not seem capable of 

 capturing them in full flight, though it will seize a wounded 

 bird, and follow the sportsman in the hope of picking up 

 some quarry. Colonel Irby writes of the species in Spain : 

 " The Marsh-Harriers are a perfect pest to the sportsman, as, 

 slowly hunting along in front, they put up every Snipe and 

 Duck that lie in their course, making them unsettled and 

 wild. Cowardly and ignoble, they are the terror of all the 

 poultry which are in their districts, continually carrying off 

 chickens, and, like other Harriers, they are terribly destruc- 

 tive to the eggs and young of all birds. On account of 

 these propensities, I never let off a Marsh-Harrier, unless it 

 spoiled sport to fire at one. Sometimes when at Casas Viejas, 

 and the Snipe were scarce, to pass away the time, we used to 



