BIRD-LIFE ON THE MOORS IN OCTOBER. 107 



June 1, 1884. I raised this hawk, which was again an adult 

 male, on the outskirts of a flat low-lying bog, and afterwards 

 followed and put him up several times, each time carrying 

 some prey in his claws. From his demeanour and other cir- 

 cumstances, I felt certain he was one of a pair then nesting 

 in the bog, which was of great extent, a perfect sea of level 

 rushes, and the beau ideal of the favourite resort of a 

 Harrier. 



I have never succeeded in actually finding the Harrier 

 nesting on the moors, but have frequently had accounts 

 given me of its doing so, which I have no doubt are correct. 

 In view of the fact that the Hen-harrier is regularly migra- 

 tory as a species, being strictly a winter visitant to Southern 

 Europe, and having a breeding range extending beyond the 

 Arctic circle, it is hardly surprising if a few pairs do occa- 

 sionally find their way to nest among the wide expanse of fell 

 and flowe extending all along the Borderland, and that de- 

 spite all the persecution of gamekeepers. There are a few 

 favoured localities which I could name, but purposely refrain 

 from doing so from dread of the " collector." It is hardly 

 too severe to describe certain of this class as perfect pests in 

 their wholesale depredations. Under the cloak of science, 

 some even carry on what is nothing better than a trade in 

 birds and their eggs. The eggs of such kinds as breed 

 gregatim are swept up by wholesale, while the few remaining 

 survivors of our rarer birds are threatened with extermina- 

 tion through the bribes which are offered to shepherds and 

 keepers, often in direct opposition to the wishes of their 

 masters. 



The Peregrine is now a very rare bird in Northumberland, 

 and it is only at long intervals that one has the pleasure of 

 observing its dashing flight. The wild moory hills and rug- 

 ged crags which Nature assigned for its dominion, and where 

 in years gone by this fine Falcon, together with the Buzzard, 

 the Raven, and the Harrier, regularly nested, will in all pro- 

 bability soon know it no more. Eightly or wrongly, man 

 has usurped the functions of Nature in adjusting the balance 

 of life (I do not mean to imply here any opinion on the 

 subject, and much can be said on either side), but it does 



