MARSH-HARRIER. 125 



Baikal eastwards^ and probably also in Japan and North China. It winters 

 in South China, the Philippine Islands, and the Malay Peninsula, and 

 would seem accidentally to wander into Eiirope. It is evidently a nearly 

 adult male of this species that Dresser has figured in his ' Birds of 

 Europe^ as the adult male Marsh- Harrier. The example from which this 

 figure was drawn was obtained by Messrs. Danford and Harvie-Brown in 

 Transylvania, whither it had probably strayed from Lake Baikal — birds 

 from this district having apparently a great propensity to turn up unex- 

 pectedly in Heligoland and various parts of Europe. It is probable that 

 the two species interbreed, as intermediate forms, with the thighs white 

 streaked longitudinally with chestnut, occur both in Europe and North 

 India. Other nearly allied species occur in South Africa, Australia, 

 and South America. 



The large feu-districts in the eastern counties of England, which 

 have within the past few centuries been drained, and their willows and 

 rushes obliged to give place to corn and pasture, tell most plainly the 

 history of the Marsh-Harrier's disappearance. In the days when 

 this low-lying country was a reed-covered tract the ]\Iarsh- Harrier, in 

 common with the Stork and the Avocet and many other birds now of 

 extreme rarity, was a well-known bird. The Marsh- Harrier is never seen 

 in the mountainous districts. It is a bird of the plains ; and its haunts 

 are almost invariably low swampy districts, the banks of rivers and lakes, 

 inundated fields, and wet meadow-land. It is especially fond of marshes, 

 but is never seen in woods. The ]\Iarsh- Harrier is usually seen passing 

 slowly over its swampy haunts a few feet from the earth, quartering the ground 

 much as a well-trained dog searching for game. Its flight is somewhat 

 slow and laboured, performed with measured beats of the wings, varied 

 bv gliding motions as it surveys the ground below. It will beat over its 

 hunting-ground, returning backwards and forwards as if diligently search- 

 ing every spot likely to contain its prey. Now and then it is seen to drop 

 somewhat slowly to the earth to secure a frog or mole, which it will either 

 eat at once or convey to some distance. The Marsh-Harrier is said 

 seldom to perch on trees ; but I have repeatedly seen it so doing, as well 

 as sittino- on large stones and fences, and sometimes on the ground. It is, 

 however, a bird that is rarely seen at rest, mostly on the wing, and is said 

 to roost upon the ground amongst reeds. Although the Marsh-Harrier 

 possesses great power of flight, still it is either incapable of taking birds 

 upon the wing or never chooses to exert its power in this respect. It will 

 take a sitting bird which it has surprised, or it Avill strike the wounded and 

 weakly birds and animals, but it never flies them down like a Falcon or a 

 Hawk. Birds and animals that can be seized upon the ground, together 

 with birds' eggs and insects, form the iMarsh-Harrier's favourite fare. As 

 a robber of birds' eggs the ]\Iarsh-Harrier seems to be too well known; 



