CHAP, xi.] HEN-HARRIER SPARROWHAWK. 91 



just out of reach, and frequently carry off before your very face 

 the partridge you have flushed, and perhaps wounded. 



There is a diversity of opinion whether the hawk commonly 



called the ringtail is the female of the hen-harrier. I have, 



however, no doubt at all on the subject. The ringtail is nothing 



more than the female or young bird. The male does not put on 



his blue and white plumage till he is a year old. I have frequently 



found the nest both on the mountain, where they build in a patcli 



of rough heather, generally by the side of a burn, and also in a 



furze-bush. Though very destructive to grouse and other game, 



this bird has one redeeming quality, which is, that he is a most 



skilful rat-catcher. Skimming silently and rapidly through a 



rickyard, he seizes on any incautious rat who may be exposed to 



view ; and from the habit this hawk has of hunting very late in 



the evening, many of these vermin fall to his share. Though of 



so small and light a frame, the hen-harrier strikes down a mallard 



without difficulty ; and the marsh and swamp are his favourite 



hunting-grounds. Quick enough to catch a snipe, and strong 



enough to kill a mallard, nothing escapes him. Although so 



courageous in pursuit of game, he is a wild, untamable bird in 



captivity ; and though I have sometimes endeavoured to tame 



one, I could never succeed in rendering him at all familiar. As 



he disdains to eat any animal not killed by himself, he is a very 



difficult bird to trap. The best chance of catching him is in 



what is called a pole-trap, placed on a high post in the middle of 



an open part of the country ; for this hawk has (in common with 



many others) the habit of perching on upright railings and posts, 



particularly as in the open plains, where he principally hunts, 



there are but few trees, and he seldom perches on the ground. 



His flight is leisurely and slow when searching for game ; but 



his dart, when he has discovered his prey, is inconceivably rapid 



and certain. 



There is another most destructive kind of hawk who frequently 

 pays us a visit the sparrowhawk. Not content with the par- 

 tridges and other ferte naturtf, this bold little freebooter invades 

 the poultry-yard rather too frequently. The hens scream, the 

 ducks quack, and rush to the cover of the plantations; whilst the 

 tame pigeons dart to and fro amongst the buildings, but in vain. 

 The sparrowhawk darts like an arrow after one of the latter birds, 



