8 



species breeding in Sutherland, gives the following information respecting its habits as observed 

 by him there : — " Common in some parts of Sutherland, perhaps most so in the north-east. 

 This species, like other raptorial birds, frequently returns to the same hillside, year after year, 

 during the nesting-season, generally breeding amongst tall old heather, but occasionally resorting 

 to very bare open spots on the moors. Old white males are most unfrequently seen, being 

 naturally not so common as the younger examples. The female is easily obtained during the 

 breeding-season, either as she rises off the nest or when, having risen, she repeatedly returns 

 and passes overhead, uttering her tremulous Kestrel-like cry. The male, however, is a very shy 

 bird, generally keeping at a distance from the nest, perched upon some grey stone or tussock of 

 heather. He is seldom, indeed, observed near the nest at all, although upon occasions I have 

 witnessed both male and female wheeling about in close proximity to it. The cry of the male 

 upon such occasions seemed more prolonged than that of the female. 



" When the Hen-Harrier hunts for prey, it skims over the surface of the moors, backwards 

 and forwards, taking in every square yard of ground ; and when it discovers a Grouse on its nest, 

 or a mouse in the grass, it pounces suddenly down, without seeming to make any preparatory 

 halt in its flight. It wheels rapidly to the right or left, and with the same beat of the wings 

 dashes down upon the victim. It seldom ascends the hillsides above the line of heather ; never- 

 theless I have found amongst the remains of a Hen-Harrier's repast, on the top of a mound of 

 stones and moss on the moor, the feathered legs and feet of a newly killed Ptarmigan." 



The nest of the Hen-Harrier is placed on the ground, and consists merely of a few sticks or 

 heather-bents with a little dry grass, unless placed in a damp spot, when a foundation is laid to 

 keep the eggs above the wet. The eggs, generally four, or sometimes five in number, are bluish 

 white, usually unspotted ; but occasionally eggs are found with a few reddish blotches scattered 

 over the surface. One in my collection, from the Volga, is very richly marked with red, almost 

 as much as in ordinary pale varieties of the Buzzard. In size eggs in my collection vary from 

 lf§ by 1^§- to 1§^ by 1\^ inch. Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown says that in Sutherland " the nest of 

 the Hen-Harrier is occasionally placed on a very bare hillside, almost destitute of heather. 

 When so placed, as in the case of the one I found in 1869, there is scarcely any foundation 

 laid at all, and it merely consists of a few loosely arranged heather-stems with a shallow 

 depression in the centre, lined with wiry dry grass cut into small pieces about an inch or less 

 in length. When placed in deep heather, however, it presents a totally different appearance, 

 being sometimes more than a foot in outside depth, and composed of stout rank stems and roots 

 of heather. Its height is generally such as to bring the bird's head, when sitting, slightly above 

 the level of the surrounding heather." 



In the Nearctic Begion this Harrier is replaced by a closely allied but perfectly distinct 

 species, Circus hudsonius (Linn.) (Syst. Nat. i. p. 128, 1766). The female of Circus hudsonius 

 closely resembles that of Circus cyaneus in coloration of plumage, but has a longer tarsus ; the 

 male, however, differs from the male of the Hen-Harrier in having the upper parts much darker 

 and more of a brownish ash-grey, the grey on the breast extends further down, and the under- 

 pays of the body, especially the flanks, and the under wing-coverts are barred with pale rufous 

 or dull light. Two adult males shot by myself in New Brunswick and Texas have the tarsus 3 - 2 

 inches in length. 



