30 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



plumage is not assumed till the third moult. Birds 

 of a greater age assume more of the ash-grey 

 colour, especially on the wing-coverts and ter- 

 tials. The above descriptions are all taken from 

 Yarrell. 



Hewitson says the eggs of the Marsh Harrier, 

 although for the most part white or slightly tinted 

 with hlue, are sometimes also spotted or smeared 

 with hrown, in the same manner as those of the Hen 

 Harrier, to be next described. 



HEN HARRIER, Circus cyaneus. The Hen Harrier, 

 though at one time tolerably numerous, has now 

 become, like the last species, almost extinct in this 

 county ; and probably, to judge by the stuffed speci- 

 mens I have met with, as well as the occasional 

 mention of its capture, is not, and never was, so 

 common as Montagu's Harrier, the bird next to be 

 described, though both have now, unfortunately, 

 almost entirely disappeared. 



The food of the Hen Harrier appears to consist 

 principally of birds, of which it must destroy a good 

 many, as would appear from the following note in 

 the 'Zoologist' for 1866 (Second Series, p. 141): 

 " On dissecting a Hen Harrier I found in the sto- 

 mach three pairs of legs of birds, one pair having 

 belonged to a Sky Lark, the other two pairs to some 

 smaller birds : there was also the bill of a Sky Lark 

 and one of a Thrush." Small animals, as well as 

 reptiles, appear to be nearly equally acceptable : of 



