HARRIER. RAPTORES. CIRCUS. 67 



of a small spot of the straw-yellow upon the occiput. And 

 in him the irides are yellow. 



The young differ from the adult birds in being without 

 the straw-yellow upon the head or wing-coverts. Varieties 

 of this species, with more or less white, are also frequently 

 found. 



I kept one of these birds in confinement for some years, in 

 which the throat, bastard-wing, the first four quill-feathers, 

 and the outer tail-feathers, were of a pure white. The rest 

 of its plumage was of dark umber-brown. 



Marshy districts and moors are the favourite haunts of Food, 

 this species. They prey on wild ducks and other water- 

 fowl, young game, leverets, and water rats. Lizards and 

 frogs also form a great portion of their food ; and they will 

 sometimes take perch, and other kinds of fish. 



Their flight is slow, and generally near the ground, beat- 

 ing it with great regularity in search of their prey ; but 

 during the season of incubation, the males will soar to a con- 

 siderable height, and remain suspended in the air for a long 

 interval of time. They build in the tall tufts of grass or 

 rushes which grow in marshy places, and lay four or five 

 round eggs, entirely white ; and not spotted with brown, as 

 asserted in the Index Ornithologicus of LATHAM. 



These birds abound in all the marshy districts of England 

 and Scotland, and, according to MONTAGU, are very nume- 

 rous in Wales, where they prey upon the rabbits that inha- 

 bit the sand-banks of the shores of Caermarthenshire. The 

 same writer observes, that he has seen no less than nine 

 feeding together upon the carcass of a sheep. 



In Holland they are of course numerous, from the nature 

 of the country ; and rare in Switzerland. 



They are migratory upon the Continent, but remain with 

 us the whole year. 



The affinity between this species and the Hen Harrier, is 

 shewn in the general contour of the form, the length of the 

 tarsi, and in the similarity also of their habits and manners. 



