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be still looked upon as a resident species. As before remarked also, prior to the entire drainage 

 of the south-western fens, this Harrier was not only the most plentiful in that locality, but was 

 the last to quit altogether those once favourite haunts. Probably the last eggs of this species 

 known to have been laid in that district were taken from a nest in Feltwell fen on the 9th of 

 June 1854, the particulars of which are recorded by Mr. Alfred Newton in his ' Ootheca 

 Wolleyana,' p. 149, with many other interesting notes relating to the ornithology of this and 

 adjoining counties. In July 1858, a nest, which proved to be of this species, was discovered on 

 a rushy marsh near Ransworth decoy. The old birds had been watched by the broad-man flying 

 backwards and forwards with food ; and on making a search he soon found the nest containing 

 three young ones. Of these only one was feathered, the next partly feathered mixed with down, 

 and the smallest covered with down only, showing that the hen bird, as is often the case with 

 the Raptorial tribe, had begun sitting after laying the first egg." 



Mr. More says (Ibis, 1865, p. 14) that until recently the present species appears to have 

 been " a regular summer visitant to some of the southern and eastern counties. Formerly found 

 nesting in Devonshire by Montagu, and still breeds occasionally in Somerset, Dorset, Kent, and 

 Norfolk. Extinct in Devon, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Lincoln. In Shropshire 

 Mr. Shaw once obtained a female that had been recently sitting; and a nest, found on the 

 Whitby Moors, near Scarborough, is recorded in Dr. Morris's ' Naturalist' for 1855. Mr. Hancock 

 writes that he has two young birds which were bred in Cumberland." To this I may add that 

 it has recently been found breeding in the Isle of Wight by Mr. Howard Saunders ; and Lord 

 Lilford writes to me as follows : — " Montagu's Harrier has bred in my recollection in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Lilford, Northamptonshire, but was never, to my knowledge, common in that 

 county. I have on several occasions observed it in Cambridgeshire, and once or twice in Norfolk, 

 whence I have obtained nestlings alive." 



Mr. Clapham informs me that a nest and both old birds were taken on Cross-Cliff Moor, 

 near Bridlington, Yorkshire, late in June 1871. It is otherwise, Mr. Hancock says (B. of North. 

 & Durh. p. 19), "a rare species in the north of England, where it was a resident, but is now 

 only a casual visitant. Selby mentions the occurrence of three specimens — two killed in 

 Northumberland, one in Durham. There are four individuals in my collection — two taken in 

 Northumberland, and two in Durham. One of these, a fine mature male, was shot on Morpeth 

 Common, July 1829; two, which are in the first or nest-plumage, were shot at Wolsingham 

 Park, in the county of Durham, 1835, and had undoubtedly been bred in that neighbourhood; 

 and in the same year a fourth was killed in Northumberland — a male, and a fine example of the 

 dark-grey variety, being of a uniform black-grey or smoke-colour, entirely without markings." 



It appears rather doubtful if it breeds in Scotland, where it is everywhere a rare species. 

 Mr. Eobert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 54) : — " On the western mainland this is certainly 

 the rarest of the Harriers. It is quite possible, however, that, from its strong general resemblance 

 to the Hen-Harrier, it may have been overlooked. Yet, judging from the comparative numbers 

 sent to the city taxidermists for preservation (no mean criterion), it falls greatly short of the 

 Hen-Harrier — a fact scarcely to be wondered at when we take into account that it is a southern 

 species in its geographical range, inclining eastwards as it recedes from the shores of England. 

 Those I have seen from west-country moors were mostly females and young males. In September 



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