190 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



flight. Its bulky nest is made upon the ground 

 under the shelter of a bush or clump of herbage, 

 or even in the swamps among the reeds. It is 

 made of reeds, sticks, and lined with grass and 

 scraps of other aquatic vegetation. The eggs, 

 from four to six in number, are pale bluish green. 

 The Marsh Harrier winters in Africa in the 

 country beyond the Atlas and north of the 

 Equator, occasionally visiting the Transvaal. 

 Incessant persecution is slowly but surely ex- 

 terminating this fine and handsome bird ; and 

 the very fact of its being so rarely, if at all, 

 seen in its adult plumage in this country, bears 

 sad if eloquent testimony to the way in which it is 

 shot down at every opportunity. 



As may very naturally be expected, the Broads 

 are richest in water birds. The abundance of 

 cover and the vast extent of the watery solitudes 

 are a grand attraction for many of the shyest and 

 the rarest of these dwellers in the marshes. Some 

 few of these, as we have already noted, have 

 passed away before the spread of civilisation ; 

 others are slowly following, and year by year are 

 becoming scarcer. One of the last lingering 

 Norfolk, species is the RUFF (Machetes fiugnax). The 



Elsewhere ~n> rr - i r i> 1 1 1_ 1 



jn England, Kurt is another fast-disappearing link with the 



and Ireland*, past. At one time it was a regular and a common 



don m ' gr visitor to the Broads and fenlands of the eastern 



counties now only a few odd pairs breed upon 



them. This bird is better known as a migrant, 



passing over our islands to and from more 



favoured haunts across the North Sea ; and it is 



only a few that linger behind, perhaps the last 



survivors of the Ruffs of more prosperous days, 



and destined soon to die completely away. Some 



