THE MARSH-HARRIER. 95 
The nest is usually placed in a swamp low down among the reeds, sometimes 
at the foot of a dwarf willow; it is a large and loosely made structure of stalks 
and rushes, and is lined with grass. In the south of Europe the Marsh-Harrier 
begins to nest early in March, but further north not until May. Col. Montagu 
once took a nest that was placed in the fork of a tree. The eggs are three to 
six, bluish white, occasionally spotted with rust red; the writer has one in his 
cabinet as richly marked on the larger end as the egg of the Honey-Buzzard, the 
rest of the egg being pure white. This is the egg figured on plate ix, No. 295. 
The eggs measure from 2°08 to 1°84 inches, by from 1°58 to 1°44 inches. While 
the hen is sitting the male bird soars high above the nest in circles. The cry of 
the Marsh-Harrier is said closely to resemble the scream of the Kittiwake Gull. 
It roosts upon the ground, but during the day may be seen sitting on posts in 
the marshes, on walls, or on heaps of litter. 
The general colour of the plumage of the male Marsh-Harrier is dark reddish 
brown; the top of the head, cheeks, and nape warm ochreous-white, closely striped 
with chocolate and blackish brown; back and scapulars dark chocolate, very slightly 
marked with dark fulvous; tail ash grey, with light yellowish buff; secondaries 
ashy-blue grey; primaries blackish-brown, the inner ones marked with ash-grey ; 
chin white, breast yellowish white, marked with rusty red and dark reddish 
brown; rest of the under parts warm rusty red marked with chocolate brown; 
irides lemon-yellow; bill horn; cere and legs yellow. 
An adult female, from Cambridgeshire, in the writer’s collection, is light 
brown, with a pale yellow band across the chest; crown of head and chin pale 
yellow, slightly striated with dark brown and rufous; back and tail light brown, 
outer feathers of tail edged with pale rufous; belly and thighs dark reddish brown ; 
some of the brown feathers on the back and shoulders with pale yellow edgings. 
In young birds of the year the whole of the plumage is dark chocolate brown ; 
the feathers tipped with lighter reddish brown; the irides then are yellowish 
hazel, and remain of this colour in the females of all ages. 
In the second year the head, neck, chin, and throat become dull yellow; with 
occasionally a patch of the same colour upon the carpus, or anterior point of the 
wing. In this plumage the Marsh-Harrier used to be called the Harpy, and it 
was always more common in this country than in the full adult dress. The 
female is much larger than the male, measuring 23 inches in length; the male 
19 to 20 inches. 
Very dark, almost black, varieties of the male are frequently met with; the 
writer possesses one from the eastern counties that has the entire head and back 
a bluish black, with the underparts dark rufous. 
