8o A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



with the Harrier. And so it is in " Montagu's" Harrier. This 

 was, before the drainage of the fens, the commonest, perhaps, of 

 all the Harriers. Now it is probably the most uncommon, and 

 comes only to us (it never nested in England) on migration. In 

 the autumn it may be seen in favourable districts quartering the 

 marshes, and pursuing though it probably never catches Snipe. 

 It has most beautiful and graceful powers of flight, and no one, I 

 think, who has once had an opportunity of watching it thus 

 disporting, could ever bring himself to shoot the bird. 



The Marsh-Harrier, the only remaining species, is alas, like its 

 fellow resident the Hen-Harrier, becoming rarer in England every 

 day. The writer (although he has, of course, had his opportunities 

 of seeing this bird when it reaches our shores in an immature 

 condition, and has had too often occasion to lament over it as 

 an ornament in the poulterers' shops), has never to his knowledge 

 seen in this country a specimen that could be regarded as 

 " resident," by which is meant a nesting bird ; although a few 

 pairs are reported as breeding still in certain districts. In other 

 countries it has long been to him a familiar companion, accompany- 

 ing him in his shooting rambles day after day. The Harriers 

 differ from almost all their allies in nesting on the ground in bog 

 or scrub, or open heath. 



When moors are reclaimed, and fens are drained, it is the ruling 

 of nature that such birds must disappear to a very great extent. 

 But an intelligent and fostering interest can do much on the other 

 side. It is greatly to be desired that landlords would, for once 

 and all, take the word of those who have made woodcraft the 

 study of their lives, and forbid their keepers to kill these birds. 



