MAESn HAEEIEE. 123 



wHole plumage pure white, witli a bright yellow eye, 

 cere, and legs. I only killed one specimen in our district, 

 and this was by a water-hole ; but I have heard they are 

 common in many of the gullies where the native phea- 

 sant abounds. 



"We used now and then to kill a beautiful little hawk, — 

 the Musqtiito Hawk, a perfect sparrow-hawk in minia- 

 ture, but little more than half its size. It was the 

 smallest hawk I ever saw. It was by no means common, 

 and, like all the smaller hawks, appeared to come into 

 our district with the small game, and leave in the winter. 

 I fancy the hawks here must breed early. Very few 

 bred with us, and many which we killed in October were 

 young birds of the year. 



I twice saw a splendid hawk beating the heather for 

 quail late in the season, but I could not shoot it. It 

 seemed a species of harrier, as large as the common 

 buzzard, and was of a rich variegated colour, chestnut- 

 brown, black, and white. 



One of the commonest of all the hawks with us was 

 the large Harsh Harrier, or, as we used to call it, the 

 Swamp HawTc. Throughout the whole time that the 

 ducks were on the swamps, this bird was beating over 

 the grass and reeds ; and we often saw as many as half 

 a dozen together flying over the same swamp. I used to 

 kill two species of large hawk on the swamps, the one 

 resembling the British rough-legged buzzard, the other 

 the marsh harrier : this latter bird was much lighter in 

 plumage, and altogether a larger, thicker bird than the 



