82 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



its prey, seizing the victim with its sharp claws 

 as it passes. Not unfrequently it may be found 

 beating over rabbit-warrens near marshes or on 

 the shores of the sea; and it prefers the early 

 morning or the evening after rain, when the 

 young rabbits come out to feed in the greatest 

 numbers. The female is about one foot seven 

 or eight inches in length. The general colour of 

 the plumage is deep reddish-brown, the crown of 

 the head being yellowish- white. The male is 

 smaller, and lighter in colours, as is the case with 

 all the species of this genus.* 



The HEN-HARRIER is so called on account of its 

 supposed partiality for the young broods of the 

 poultry-yard. It is also very destructive in pre- 

 serves, having courage and strength enough to 

 pounce upon and kill a partridge, a red grouse, 

 or even a pheasant. The sexes in this species 

 differ so much both in size and plumage, that 

 they have been often described as different birds. 

 The male, from his almost uniform ash-grey 



* The Kev. Richard Lubbock, says, " Twenty years back 

 this bird might have been called the Norfolk hawk ; it 

 was so generally dispersed amongst the broads. Almost 

 every pool of any extent had its pair of them ; they consumed 

 the day in beating round and round the reeds which skirted 

 the water. This was done for hours, incessantly. All the 

 birds wounded by the sportsman, fell to the share of the 

 moor-buzzard.' 



