436 



I have occasionally seen as many as thirty and more at a time hovering over and hunting the 

 country ; but they appeared to be mostly birds of the year." 



In Southern Russia it is said by several observers to be very common ; and Mr. Goebel 

 states (J. f. O. 1870, p. 200) that in Uman a pair may be found inhabiting almost every large 

 reedy pond. He found a nest there in 1867 in the middle of a willow bush. Dr. Radde speaks 

 of it as being tolerably common in Southern Bessarabia and in the steppes of Tauria ; and 

 Dr. Eversmann writes (J. f. O. 1853, p. 64), this Harrier "is as common in the fields and 

 steppes as Milvus migrans. It is interesting to see how at the approach of winter it is driven 

 by the snow slowly southward. I have witnessed this several times in the latter part of the 

 autumn when on the way from the mountains of the Ural, where winter begins early, to the 

 warmer steppes of Orenburg. As far as there was snow covering the ground no Circus cyaneus 

 could be seen ; but where the steppe was still bare, I saw numbers of them, which shows 

 that they left to avoid the snow." It is met with in winter in Asia Minor; and Canon 

 Tristram says (Ibis, 1865, p. 260) that it is common and permanently resident on the plains 

 of Palestine. 



It does not appear to be numerous in North-east Africa, and is only found there in the cold 

 season. Von Heuglin says that he met with it occasionally in the winter in that country, and 

 adds that it goes south to Abyssinia and Kordofan. In North-west Africa the Hen-Harrier is 

 less common than either of the other two species, and appears to be only a winter visitant; 

 for Loche must certainly be mistaken in his statement that it breeds commonly in Algeria. 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., met with it there, and writes (Ibis, 1871, p. 72) : — " I observed a fine pair 

 of the Hen-Harrier, which is not included in Dr. Tristram's Sahara list (Ibis, i. p. 277), hunting 

 some rushes and an Arab's garden at Laghouat. They were remarkably tame for Hawks ; I 

 shot the female, and crept up to within 40 yards of the male as he was preying upon a bird ; but 

 having only No. 11 shot in my gun he escaped. Egypt was the only locality in Africa from 

 which my father had previously seen the Hen-Harrier." Favier speaks of it as being but seldom 

 met with in Tangier ; and it does not range down into Central or South Africa. 



In Asia it is met with right across the continent to Japan. It has been obtained at 

 Erzeroom ; and Mr. Hume says (Rough Notes, p. 296) that in India this Harrier " is pretty 

 common, in the cold weather, at any rate, about the outer ranges of the Himalayas from 

 Abottabad to Kumaon, and possibly further east ; and stragglers have been obtained in Baraitch 

 (Oudh), Meerut, Bareilly, Gourgaon, Etawah, Saugor, Nagpoor, Chandah, and Goona ; but except 

 in the Himalayas, or within twenty miles or so of their feet, its occurrence appears to be some- 

 what exceptional." He further adds that he was assured that a female of this Harrier or the 

 Pallid Harrier was seen sitting on its eggs in a marshy plain at the end of Lake Tsoomourari, in 

 Thibet. In Siberia it is widely distributed. Dr. von Middendorff states that he obtained one on 

 the 22nd April (O. S.) on the Amga river ; Maack shot an old male near Nertschinsk, on the 

 head-waters of the Amoor, on the 19th April; and Dr. G. Radde, who found it breeding on the 

 Tarei-nor, says that he observed it in the plains of the eastern Sajan to an altitude of about 3000 

 feet. He seldom met with it on Lake Baikal, but found it common on the elevated steppes of 

 Transbaikalia and on the Central and Upper Amoor. On the 16th September the Harriers 

 became rare on the Tarei-nor ; and none were seen after the 26th of that month. The main body 



