MARSH HARRIER 147 



ing, or whatever he may have deemed it ; but I do not recollect 

 that I ever caught sight of the bird. 



Squirrels, rats, mice, moles, shrews, and any small birds that he 

 can surprise asleep, with insects, form his principal food. These he 

 hunts by night, and retires for concealment by day to some thick 

 tree or shrubbery, either in the hill country or the plains. The 

 nest, composed principally of the dried pellets of undigested bones 

 and fur, which all the Owls are in the habit of disgorging, is usually 

 placed in a hollow tree : here the female lays about four eggs, from 

 which emerge, in due time, as many grotesque bodies enveloped in 

 a soft plush of grey yarn : destined, in due time, to become Tawny 

 Owls. The full-grown females are larger than the males, and, 

 being of a redder tinge, were formerly considered a distinct species. 

 The old birds utter their loud hoo-hou ! or to-whit, in-who I chieflj 

 in the evening. 



ORDER ACCIPITRES 



FAMILY FALCONID^) 



Sub-Family BUTEONINiE 



MARSH HARRIER 



CIRCUS iERUGINOSUS 



Head, neck, and breast yellowish white, with numerous longitudinal brown 

 streaks ; wing-coverts reddish brown ; primary quills white at the base, 

 the rest black ; tail and secondaries ash-grey ; lower plumage reddish 

 brown ; beak bluish black ; cere, irides, and feet yellow ; claws black. 

 Length twenty inches. Eggs white. 



The Harriers are bold predatory voracious birds, having somewhat 

 of the appearance and movements of the Hawks. On a closer 

 inspection, however, they are seen to approach nearer in character 

 to the Owls. In the first place, they hunt their prey more in the 

 morning and evening than at any other time of day. In the next 

 place, these twilight habits are associated with a large head, and 

 a somewhat defined face formed by a circle of short feathers ; 

 while the plumage generally is soft and loose, and their mode of 

 hunting resembles that of the nocturnal predatory birds, rather 

 than that of the Falcons. They are remarkable for the great 

 difference which exists between the plumage of the two sexes, which 

 has made the task of discriminating the number of species very 

 difficult. Less active than the Falcons, they yet carry on a for- 



