CIRCUS CINERACEUS. 15 



Habits. — Montagu's Harrier delights in swamps, marshes, and open country, more or less studded with low 

 jungle and copse, over which it sweeps at a considerable height, rising and falling in its rapid progress, and 

 appearing to take in a more extended view of its ground than the Pale Harrier can do in its low-directed flight. 

 I have seen it, however, in the great swamp of Mutturajawella, flying steadily from end to end, with a slow 

 beating of its long wings, keeping just above the tangled vegetation, and now and then dropping out of sight 

 in the sudden manner peculiar to its family. It is crepuscular in its habits, flying about its hunting-grounds 

 so late that it cannot be discerned when a little way off ; and sharp indeed must be its eyesight to enable it to 

 capture the small prey that it lives on, among grass and herbage, with so little light. Layard, whose observations 

 tended to show that it fed much upon snakes, has the following well-written description of its flight in the 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. : — "Nothing can exceed in gracefulness the flight of this bird when beating over the 

 ground in search of its quarry. Its long pointed wings smoothly and silently cut the air ; now raised high 

 over its back, as the bird glides along the furrows ; now drawn to its sides, as it darts rapidly between the 

 rows of standing paddy ; now the wings beat the air with long and even strokes, and now extended, they support 

 their possessor in his survey of the marsh over which he is passing. Suddenly he drops, and after a 

 momentary halt speeds away, with a snake dangling in his talons, to some well-remembered stone or clod 

 of earth, and commences his repast." 



I have found the bones of small mammals, probably mice, as well as grasshoppers in this Harrier's 

 stomach ; but in Ceylon, according to my experience, its chief food consists of lizards. In countries where 

 reptiles do not abound, such as England and other parts of Europe, it preys to a certain extent on small 

 birds ; and Mr. Howard Saunders, in his very interesting account of the nesting of this Harrier in the Isle of 

 Wight, published in the ' Field ' of the 2nd September, 1875, found amongst the food brought to the young in 

 the nest, " the remains of several small birds — skylark, titlark, stonechat, and yellow hammer." It will also 

 kill snakes, as appears from the above extract from Layard's writings, and no doubt very frequently preys on 

 them in the fetid swamps of the East. Professor Newton, in his edition of Yarrell, speaks of one " which 

 was observed to hover about a trap, baited with a rabbit, without pouncing, but on a viper being substituted 

 for the rabbit, the bird was immediately caught." The same writer likewise speaks of its swallowing birds' 

 eggs whole. 



Montagu's Harrier, like the Moor-Buzzard, seems to prefer perching on level ground to settling on 

 little knolls and elevations. It roosts also on the ground, and is probably often captured in the East by the 

 stealthy jackal, or in northern climes by the still more clever fox. This Harrier does not appear to have 

 strong powers of vision, when they are subjected to the force of the sun's rays. I once observed three birds 

 alight, one after the other, on the bare soil, and stand with erect carriage, all looking in the same direction, 

 after the manner of Gulls ; and being between their position and the rays of the setting sun, I appeared 

 not to be noticed by them, for I was enabled to creep steadily forward towards them in the open, and thus 

 secured, from among the trio, one of the finest female specimens in my collection. 



I have heard this Harrier make a weak squealing note, but can say nothing further as to its voice ; in 

 fact the Harriers, as a group, seem to be among the most silent of raptorial birds, little or nothing concerning 

 their notes having been placed on record by the numerous observers of their otherwise interesting habits. 

 When viewed on a glorious tropical morning, there is something very striking in the noiseless course of this 

 and other Harriers as they glide silently over the misty paddy-swamps of the interior, while the luxuriant 

 forest surrounding these, to the lover of nature, most interesting spots re-echoes with the voice of hundreds 

 of the smaller bird creation. 



This species thrives in confinement ; and Mr. Saunders, in his article above referred to, records that the 

 young bird in question, wheil it had acquired the free use of its wings, flew " round the lumber-room in 

 which it had been placed in a buoyant manner, and took great pleasure in a bath, in which it would stand 

 knee deep, enjoying being sprinkled with water, after which it would spread its wings and bask in the sun." 



Nidification. — The Ashy Harrier does not breed within the Indian limits, but in northern climes, where it 

 propagates its species, it nests in May and June. In Europe and Great Britain its nest is built, as elsewhere, 

 on the ground, and is made of small sticks, rushes, grass, roots, &c, the latter composing the interior or lining. 

 It is more slightly built, as a rule, than the nests of other Harriers ; but its size must necessarily depend on the 



