THE HEN HARRIER. 327 



simple, which would not bring us a lesson, if we would 

 but wait and watch for it But we are so apt to attend 

 only to the great events which are striking, and force 

 themselves upon our notice, that we lose the connexion 

 by not heeding those minor ones, which are the cement 

 by which the whole succession is bound together, and 

 without which the insulated partitions are of compa- 

 ratively small value. 



The kite usually builds in trees, its nest is formed of 

 twigs and lined with wool. The female lays, generally, 

 three eggs, of a dirty white, and occasionally blotched 

 with rusty brown at the thick end. The eggs are larger 

 than those of the domestic hen. The young are produced 

 early in the season ; and, ^m the continent, the bird is 

 migratory, proceeding southward to Greece and Italy, 

 or even to Africa in winter, and returning as far as the 

 shores of the Baltic in the summer ; but in Britain they 

 do not leave the country ; they descend toward the sea, 

 where, though they do not appear to catch living fish, 

 they prey upon dead ones and aquatic insects, and, 

 when they can come upon them unawares, sand-pipers 

 and other birds. The kite is only an occasional visitant 

 in the bleak and northern parts of the country ; and it 

 is rather a rare bird, except in some particular districts. 

 It is far from being the most destructive bird that beats 

 the moors, and other places where there are gallina- 

 ceous game : a much more formidable destroyer is 



THE HEN HARRIER. 



THE HEN HARRIER (circus cyaneus) is like the 

 kite, not a regular inhabitant of the moors, but it makes 

 excursions there, and is very bold and destructive. It 

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