350 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



again followed, and, unattended by any birds at 

 all, I beat on. At length, however, the lark 

 renewed its song and enlivened the waste, and at 

 1.35 p.m. a hen harrier — the first I had seen in 

 Orkney — fluttered up in silence before me, and 

 with easy flight crossed to the ridge and dis- 

 appeared behind it. The nest was placed in an 

 open depression amongst the heather, without any 

 effort at concealment, and the sight of the five 

 eggs at once atoned for the long wait and search 

 that had preceded their discovery. At the locality 

 chosen for nidification many blanched stems stood 

 up amongst the heather and exposed peat was but 

 a little way off. A bare spot had been selected on 

 which a bulky nest of heather had been built 

 sufficiently high to be beyond the effect of the 

 damp when wet weather filled the underlj'ing moss, 

 and a dense mass of fine dry bent — between one 

 and two inches in thickness — had been inserted as 

 a lining. The nest measured across the inner 

 diameter seven and five-eighths inches, and 

 was two and a-half inches deep in the cup, 

 and the heather around was adorned with downy 

 plumes from the sitting bird. Shortly after 

 resting by the nest I heard a curious cry, prolonged 

 and somewhat resembling a kestrel's, though much 

 shriller — " cheeki, cheeki, cheeki, cheeki " — which 

 announced the harrier's approach. She passed 

 closely over my head, and by her noise brought 

 her mate on the scene. His was a quite different 

 cry, somewhat like " hiky, hiky, hiky, hiky " con- 

 tinuously maintained. He came flying boldly in 

 the line of my head, passing upwards before he 

 came too near. They alighted on the crest of the 

 surrounding knowe, and periodically flew towards 

 me with chiding call ; but at length, seeing my 

 persistency in remaining, they resumed silence. 

 The eggs were incubated, one of the clutch being 

 addled. 



After more than an hour's halt at the harrier's 

 nest, I went towards another loch marked in my 

 map; but, finding peat digging too prevalent an 

 obstruction, terminated my outward journey, and 

 turned homewards by hills lying further to the 

 west, where excellent heather also occurred. Some 

 time was spent in watching a twite, whose nest I 

 suspected to be amongst the heather, and I then 

 passed on over ground that increased in splendour 

 until I reached an extensive bog, ridged with 

 mounds on which heather, knee-deep, grew thickly 

 and closely, with intervening depressions covered 

 with long grass, and of a very treacherous nature. 

 Here cattle were grazing, and boys were herding 

 them to prevent their falling into the peatholes. I 

 entered into conversation with one of these herd boys 

 and learned that he knew ' ' a ool's nest," but as it was 

 out of his bounds he could not be induced to show it 

 me lest the cattle should, meanwhile, come to grief. 

 Barely had I parted with him before my attention 



was arrested by a curious cry ahead, and there to 

 my great delight was another pair of harriers 

 quartering the valley, rising and falling as they 

 went, the beautiful blue male with conspicuous 

 black primaries going last. I followed their course 

 with the closest attention till they both disappeared, 

 and was so deeply interested in observing them, that 

 I did not try to detail their actions. Further 

 interruption occurred through a man who had 

 crossed the moss to enquire if my search was 

 for lost sheep, as he had found two ; but I deftly 

 turned the conversation from sheep to harriers, 

 and as we stood speaking the male harrier came 

 flying along the valley. Such a sight was nothing 

 to the man, as it only raised bitter feelings in his 

 breast against the bird. He drew my attention at 

 the same time to a " mousiehawk " and its mate : 

 they were a pair of merlins dashing across the 

 valley. Disappointed in the object of his trip 

 across the bog, he soon left me, and I wandered on 

 through the heather and rushes, the latter of 

 which were two and a-half feet in height. Again 

 I caught sight of the male harrier rising and 

 falling, attacking something on the ground ; the 

 object of his attack was hidden by a small interven- 

 ing mound, but the bird himself was prominent 

 enough as he rose in the air for each successive 

 swoop. As he kept up this peculiar performance a 

 lesser blackback appeared on the scene and began 

 to mob him in turn every time he rose in the air, 

 but the harrier paid no heed. I hurried forward 

 to discover the cause of offence, and the harrier 

 decamped. 



The dreaded mist descended soon afterwards, 

 and put an end to my opportunities for the time 

 being, as all my attention henceforth was devoted 

 to finding my way out of the moss. On the fol- 

 lowing day, however, I returned to the same 

 neighbourhood and, after an hour's search, came 

 on a nest of short-eared owls, from which the 

 young had escaped : one addled egg had been left 

 in the nest, and this was appropriated. I intended 

 to give my attention solely to the owls, which were 

 common here, but was so persistently attracted by 

 the calling of harriers, that I could not neglect the 

 latter species. Ever and anon the flighting cry, 

 " meeyii meeyti," of the harrier would warn me of 

 their approach, and I would halt to watch a pair 

 passing along the hill-crest or quartering the valley. 

 A harrier would quarter back and forward across a 

 rush bed, giving two or three flaps of his huge 

 wings, moving from side to side, then slightly 

 hovering with wings faintly upturned, or sailing 

 along on motionless pinions, and periodically 

 settling on the ground only to rise again in a short 

 time for another hunt. The male is a very 

 conspicuous bird, of a beautiful blue, except his 

 primary feathers, which are black. He is a noisy 

 bird too, and when his premises are invaded he 



