24 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



mediately seized itj and on examination I found the blood 

 flow very fast from a fresh wound in the head, but there was 

 some dry clotted blood on its wings and side; whence I con- 

 cluded that a hawk hiA singled out my wounded bird as the 

 object of his prey, and had struck it down the instant that 

 my approach had obliged the birds to rise on the wing; but 

 the space between the hedges was so small,- and the motion 

 of the birds so instantaneous and quick, that I could not 

 distinctly observe the operation." 



Mr. Knox (O. R. p. 90) states that a female was taken in 

 a trap baited with a rabbit's scut, at OfFhara, in March 

 1842 ; that in September 1844, a male was shot near 

 Arundel, another in the same year at West Wittering 

 in December, a male and female at Wivelsfield, in June 

 1847, and that their nest was probably in the immediate 

 vicinity, as they were both mature, and had been seen together 

 for some time previously. He considered this bird to be 

 much rarer than Montagu's Harrier. 



Mr. Dennis, in a letter to me, dated January 25, 1851, 

 says that he had sent a female Hen-Harrier to Mr. Swaysland, 

 of Brighton, to be p'-eserved, which had been taken near 

 Seaford shortly before. 



In the ' Zoologist ' (!ccur the following notices :■ — 



S.S. p. 141, by Mr. Jeffery, jun., of one having been shot 

 on the 14th of December, 1865, in a marsh adjoining Pag- 

 ham Harbour, which contained the remains of several birds, 

 and of' which the plumage was of a general rusty brown 

 colour. He also mentions, in p. 2059, a young male sliot at 

 Sidlesham, in December 1867. 



In page 3112, Mr. EUman writes:— "An adult female 

 specimen of the Hen-Harrier was captured alive on the 

 Downs, near Alciston, in a singular manner last month , . . 

 A boy was walking over the Downs, when a terrier he had 

 with him saw the bird at a distance and ran after it. After 



