The 1 Ikn-Harrier. 97 



liills and moors when he was in pursuit of Snipe; one day he saw three old 

 males beating a swamp in line. Only too frequently decaying bodies would be 

 seen suspended in keepers' larders, and nests that had been destroyed would be 

 reported. The flight of the Hen-Harrier is usually low over the ground, some- 

 times the bird will hover in the air like a Kestrel, or skim swiftly like a drou.se. 

 When suddenly come upon and disturbed in eating its prey upon the ground it 

 makes off with an awkward, wavering fliglit, but, on occasion, it can acquit itself 

 very respectably on wing, as was once witnessed by the writer on the Braunton 

 Burrows, in North Devon, when an old male that was chased and stooped at by 

 a Peregrine Falcon made a good ringing flight, mounting high into the air, 

 successfully avoiding and shaking off its formidable enemy. The food of the 

 Hen-Harrier consists of frogs, snakes, rats, mice, voles, rabbits, leverets, small 

 birds, young birds, and birds' eggs, with an occasional Grouse or Partridge ; it 

 takes its name from its harrying the poultry-yard, but as it is entirely a bird 

 of wild open moors and fens, instances of its attacking and carrj'ing off chickens 

 cannot have been frequent, and it may have been confounded with the Kite. The 

 Hen-Harrier was plentiful enough in Col. Montagu's time, who states that he 

 frequently saw three or four on wing together, and was the first naturalist to 

 point out that the " Ring-tail," formerly considered a distinct species, wasonl}' the 

 female of the Hen-Harrier ; this he conclusively proved b}' rearing a brood, taken 

 from the nest in their white down, until the}' had assumed their full plumage, 

 which they did in the autumn of their second 3'ear.* 



This Harrier ranges further to the north than the other two Harriers on the 

 English list, having been found by Seebohm on the tundras of North Russia and 

 Siberia, more than a hundred miles above the Arctic circle. On the Continent 

 it is a summer visitor, arriving towards the end of March from the south, nesting 

 in Holland, Jutland, Norway, Lapland, northern and central Russia, Poland, north 

 and central Asia, and the north island of Japan. In the southern countries of 

 Europe it is chiefly seen on passage ; it winters in Africa, going as far south as 

 Abyssinia ; many also winter in the southern countries bordering the Mediterranean. 



The old male Hen-Harrier, in his blue-grej^ back and white under parts, not 

 a little resembles a Gull as he flies over the ground with a decidedl}' guUish 

 flight. One winter the Avriter spent on Lundy Island during a long-continued 

 frost, when the ground was deeply covered with snow, an old male was daily seen 

 feeding upon the starving Larks and Fieldfares. 



The nest, placed on the groi:nd on a moor sometime in Ma}-, generall}- among 



* However, the Rev. H. A. Macpberson claims that Dr. He3-sham, of Carlisle, made the discover}- prior 

 to Col. Montagu. 



Vol. Ill O 



