HEN HARRIER. 103 



by one inch four lines in breadth. The male sits occa- 

 sionally during the period of incubation, and has been shot 

 on the nest. The young are hatched early in June, and 

 are at first covered with white down. 



The Hen Harrier, though nowhere very numerous, is 

 pretty generally distributed in England, Ireland, and Scot- 

 land. It inhabits the Hebrides and Orkneys, remaining 

 in those northern islands all the winter. It appears to be 

 less perfectly known in Scandinavia : but has been killed 

 on some of the islands in the Baltic. Pennant, in his Arc- 

 tic Zoology, says it is common in the open and temperate 

 parts of Russia and Siberia, and extends as far as Lake 

 Baikal. The Hen Harrier also inhabits Germany, France, 

 Holland, Italy, Turkey, the Morea, Corfu, Sicily, and 

 Malta; it was obtained at Smyrna by Mr. Strickland, 

 and at Trebizond by K. E. Abbot, Esq. Le Vaillant 

 found it in Africa, and describes it under the name of Le 

 Busard Grenouillard. 



Whether the Hen Harrier of North America be really 

 identical with the Hen Harrier of Europe, is a point that 

 is still debated. M. Temminck considers the specimens 

 from Africa, and also those of North America, to be iden- 

 tical with those of Europe. Wilson the Ornithologist, the 

 Prince of Musignano, who has added four parts to the 

 American Ornithology of Wilson, uniform in size and ap- 

 pearance with the original work, and Mr. Audubon, con- 

 sider the Hen Harrier of North America the same as 

 that of Europe. Dr. Richardson and Mr. Swainson, ap- 

 pear to have some doubts on this point, but have adopted 

 the nomenclature and synonymes of the European Hen 

 Harrier ; and indeed there is but slight difference in the 

 markings of the plumage in the birds o the two countries, 

 and none whatever in the habits. If this point of the 



