320 MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 
six examples have been obtained since 1849, from co. Dublin south- 
ward ; one of these on May 21st, one on July 3rd, and the others 
in autumn. 
The St. Petersburg district and the Gulf of Finland appear to 
mark the extreme northern breeding-limits of this Harrier ; but it is 
abundant in summer in Central and Southern Russia, and on the 
steppes of the latter a few remain throughout the winter. It seldom 
visits Heligoland, and is not numerous in Denmark or Northern 
Germany ; but to the central and southern districts of the latter it is 
a regular visitor, arriving in March and leaving in October ; while in 
Holland, Belgium, and many parts of France it is more or less 
common ; large flocks often congregating at the time of migration. 
A considerable number breed in the Spanish Peninsula and other 
parts of the south of Europe, passing through in autumn and again 
in spring, and many are killed in Malta on their migrations to and 
from Africa. Montagu’s Harrier also nests in Morocco and Algeria, 
while in winter it visits the Canaries and occurs in Africa as far 
south as Cape Colony. In Asia its range extends to Turkestan and 
the south-west of Siberia in summer, and to India, Ceylon and 
Burma in winter. 
The nest is often a mere hollow lined with dry grass and bordered 
with twigs, in the middle of a small clearing in gorse or heather, 
and, on the Continent, in a field of grain ; but in the fens it is more 
substantially built of sedge. The 4-5 eggs, laid at intervals of two 
or three days, towards the end of May, are usually pale bluish-white, 
but sometimes spotted with reddish-brown : measurements, 1°7 by 
13 in. I never found the male bird on the nest. Like other 
Harriers, this species eats small mammals and birds, but its food 
consists principally of grass-snakes, vipers, lizards and other reptiles, 
large insects, such as grasshoppers and locusts, and, during the season, 
eggs of ground-nesting birds. From the crop of a male I once took 
two unbroken eggs of the Crested Lark, and the crushed remains of 
others. The flight is very light and elegant. 
The adult male has the upper parts slate-grey, with a black bar 
across the secondaries ; tail-feathers greyish, with five dark bars, 
except on the middle pair ; throat and breast ash-grey ; lower parts 
white streaked with rufous. Varieties ranging to an entirely sooty- 
black are not uncommon in this sex, but rare in the female. The 
latter is usually brown above, and buffish-white streaked with rufous- 
brown below; the young are similar, but almost chestnut on the 
under parts. Length: male about 18 in., wing 14 in.; female 
19°25 in., wing 15°4 in. 
