-THE HEN HARRIER. 



Pheasant pursiu-d by a hen harrier. 



the inner ones are marked with alternate bars of 

 white and rust-colour. The legs are long, slen- 

 der, and yellow; and the claws black. 



These birds may be frequently seen about 

 forests, heaths, and other retired places; particu- 

 larly in the neighbourhood of marshy grounds, 

 where they destroy prodigious numbers of snipes. 

 They sail with great regularity all over a piece 

 of marsh, till they discover them, when they im- 

 mediately pounce upon and kill them. 



Mr. White informs us in his Naturalist's Ca- 

 lendar, that a gentleman who was shooting in 

 Hampshire, by chance sprung a pheasant in a 

 \vheat-3tubble, and shot at it; when., notwith- 

 standing the report of the gun, it was pursued 

 by a hen harrier, but escaped into some covert. 

 He then sprung a second, and a third, in the 

 same field, and these likewise got away; the 

 hawk hovering round him all the while he was 

 beating the field, conscious, no doubt, of the 

 game that lurked in die stubble. Hence .we may 

 conclude, that this bird of prey was rendered 

 daring by hunger, and .that lurvks are not always 

 T$ a condition to strike their game. We may 

 also observe, that they cannot pounce on .their 

 quarry when it is on the ground, where it might 

 be able to make a stout resistance ; since so large 

 a fowl as a pheasant could not but be visible to 

 the piercing eye of a hawk, when hovering over 

 i- Hence that propensity in game to cowering 

 squatting till they are almost trod on ; vvhic)} 

 K 2 



