At Home with Wild Nature 



feeds, in Surrey at any rate, almost entirely upon 

 dragon flies, moths and beetles, which are caught on the 

 wing and transferred in mid-air from claw to beak. It 

 is a wonderful flyer, and the pretty way in which a 

 male and female of this species will toy and play with 

 each other in the air is a sight to gladden the eyes of 

 the oldest ornithologist. 



Quite recently I watched four of these beautiful 

 falcons hawking dragon flies over the reed-fringed shores 

 of a Surrey pond, whither they came with clock-like 

 precision at the same hour, day by day, to make a meal, 

 but alas ! the egg-collector has discovered their breed- 

 ing haunt, and I fear they and their admirers are in for 

 a disappointing time. 



The harriers may almost be dismissed in a sentence, 

 so far as the British Islands are concerned. Our little 

 country is too thickly populated, and what is left of its 

 once solitary wastes too limited and well looked after 

 in the interests of game for such easily destroyed birds 

 ever to thrive again in our midst. 



I have seen, within the last two decades, Montagu's 

 harrier nesting twice in deep heather on a west Surrey 

 moor, the hen harrier breeding in the Outer Hebrides 

 and the marsh harrier attempting to do so on the 

 Norfolk Broads. All three species are said to be egg 

 robbers, and the second is accused of killing birds as 

 large as coot and teal. One writer mentions starlings as 

 being part of the hen harrier's diet. This is strange, as 

 I have never known any other creature that would touch 

 this evil-smelling bird and few self-respecting dogs that 



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