On Moorlands and Roiighs. 65 



with gray upper parts, darker on the throat and 

 breast, the remainder of the under parts and the 

 upper tail-coverts pure white, the primaries black. 

 The hen is somewhat larger, dark -brown above, 

 paler brown below, streaked with rufous-brown; the 

 upper tail -coverts are, however, nearly white as in 

 the male, which fact seems to suggest that they are 

 a recognition mark (Conf. Curiosities of Bird Life, 

 p. 249). The principal food of this Harrier consists 

 of small animals, such as moles, mice; of frogs, 

 lizards, and insects. The bird is also a great egg 

 eater, robbing the nests of other moorland species. 

 Although to some small extent it may prey upon 

 birds, there is nothing in its habits to cause uneasi- 

 ness to the owner of a Grouse moor; the bird's 

 comparative harmlessness should secure for it greater 

 immunity from gun, trap, and poison than it at 

 present receives. There are one or two other Rap- 

 tores we may just allude to here as dwellers on or 

 fairly regular visitors to the moorlands. On the 

 South Yorkshire moors the Kestrel is, we are glad 

 to say, still a fairly common bird. It is fond of the 

 outskirts of the moors, the rough grounds often 

 crowned with ridges ranges of low cliffs of mill- 

 stone grit, and in these it habitually nests. Then 

 the Sparrow-hawk is a frequent visitor to the heath- 

 clad wastes, but chiefly to the borderland and in 

 localities where there are plantations of larch and fir, 



(M618) E 



