Montagu's harrier. 41 



served in limited numbers as an annual migrant in the eastern 

 counties. 



Mr. Thomas AUis informed the British Association in 1844 

 that Mr. Arthur Strickland of Bridlington had procured this 

 species in all stages of plumage from the nest, though it was 

 seldom then met with ; and that Mr. John Heppenstall had a 

 male from Thorne Moor, where it bred, placing its nest among 

 the long heath which grew to a considerable height on the borders 

 of the moist places. It is also fair to presume that it formerly 

 bred in the carrs near Doncaster, where Mr. Allis mentioned that 

 two pairs had been shot in 1835. 



Mr. John Braim records in Morris's Naturalist (1855, p. 

 214) that in July 1854, a male was shot on the moors near 

 Whitby, the female being seen, and three eggs taken from the 

 nest. 



Mr. A. Clapham of Scarborough tells me that some years 

 ago — unfortunately he cannot give the year — Mr. Lloyd's keeper 

 brought to him in June a pair of these Harriers in the flesh, 

 along with their two young birds in down, and some addled eggs, 

 obtained at Crosscliffe, Hackness, near Scarborough. The plu- 

 mage of both the old birds was pecuhar, being of a " dull slaty 

 mixed color." The two sexes were very similar in plumage and 

 size ; the female being so diminutive that were it not for, the fact 

 that she was procured at the same time as her mate and the 

 young, she might have been mistaken for a male bird. 



I am indebted to Mr. E. P. P. Butterfield of Wilsden for in- 

 formation relating to a pair of Montagu's Harriers and their 

 young, now in the possession of Mr. Dalton, which were obtained 

 from a nest on Barden Moor, in Wharfedale, on the 12th of July, 

 i860. The nest was placed somewhere on the site now occupied 

 by the reservoir of the Bradford Corporation. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., informs me, on the authority of Mr. 

 Jones of Bridlington Quay, that a pair and their nestling young 

 were captured near Bridlington in the year 187 1. 



As a casual visitant and autumn migrant, I have been able 

 to obtain very little information of its occurrence, the following 



