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HEN HARRIER. 
PLATH XXI.—FIG. I. 
Circus cyaneus, . : : : Firming. SrEpy. 
THE nest of this bird, which is built on open wastes, 
and frequently in a furze cover, and placed on or near 
the ground, is composed of sticks rudely put together, 
sedge, reeds, flags, and other coarse materials. It is 
made of considerable height, sometimes as much as a 
foot and a half; possibly, in such cases, a safeguard 
against floods. One has been known thus raised to 
the height of four feet—perhaps a second story had 
been added to a former tenement. 
The male assists the female in the task of incubation. 
The young are hatched early in June: both parents 
are said to supply them with food. 
The eggs are four or five in number, sometimes six; 
and most frequently white, or bluish, or greenish white, 
often slightly marked, and in some imstances more 
distinctly spotted with yellowish brown, or light brown. 
One is thus marked very faintly. 
A second is a good deal blotted with very pale 
brown at the smaller end. 
A third is most marked with a similar colour at 
the larger end, with a sort of irregular bar of the 
same round the egg, a little beyond the middle. 
Bewick describes some as of a reddish colour, with 
a few white spots. 
