364 THE MARSH-HARRIER 



The drainage of our Eastern fens and the reclaiming 

 of marshland in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, 

 Dorset, Somerset, and some other counties once 

 frequented by this bird has caused it to become scarce 

 where former! v it used to breed freely. Sometimes a 

 pair having wandered over from Holland will try to rear 

 a brood in our Norfolk Broads district, but the 

 sportsman sic and the collector will not allow them 

 to succeed. In Ireland the bird was formerly common 

 enough about Lough Erne, along the Shannon valley, 

 in Co. Cork, and other districts, but during the last fifty 

 years the gamekeepers have nearly exterminated it by 

 poison. It is known to be a great destroyer of the eggs 

 and young of Waterfowl, but during most of the year 

 it feeds on small mammals, frogs, and reptiles as well 

 as birds. 



This is the Duck-Hawk of the marshmen. When the 

 sun is glinting through the mist he may be seen gliding 

 hither and thither, low down over the grey-green flats. 

 At noon he is high up in the clear blue sky. The tender 

 young ducks called " flappers " are his favourite diet. 



Jean Ingelow, in " The Four Bridges," says: 



" The bold Marsh-Harrier wets her tawny breast 

 We scared her oft in childhood from her prey." 



The Marsh-Harrier is smaller and noticeably slimmer 

 in build than the Buzzard. The tail is long, the legs are 

 long, thin, and bare of feathers, and the claws sharp. 

 The head has something about it that suggests an Owl, 

 for the facial disk is conspicuous and the eyes glance 

 forwards as well as to the side. The bird's plumage is 

 brown, very dark in places : but the head is light- 

 coloured, being whitish in males and yellowish in 

 females. Inhabiting reed-beds, the bird builds its nest 

 ampng reed-stems or bulrushes. The eggs, five or less 

 frequently six in number, are greenish-white in colour. 



