THE HEN-HARRIER. 97 
hills and moors when he was in pursuit of Snipe; one day he saw three old 
males beating a swamp in line. Only too frequently decaying bodies would be 
seen suspended in keepers’ larders, and nests that had been destroyed would be 
reported. The flight of the Hen-Harrier is usually low over the ground, some- 
times the bird will hover in the air like a Kestrel, or skim swiftly like a Grouse. 
When suddenly come upon and disturbed in eating its prey upon the ground it 
makes off with an awkward, wavering flight, but, on occasion, it can acquit itself 
very respectably on wing, as was once witnessed by the writer on the Braunton 
Burrows, in North Devon, when an old male that was chased and stooped at by 
a Peregrine Falcon made a good ringing flight, mounting high into the air, 
successfully avoiding and shaking off its formidable enemy. The food of the 
Hen-Harrier consists of frogs, snakes, rats, mice, voles, rabbits, leverets, small 
birds, young birds, and birds’ eggs, with an occasional Grouse or Partridge; it 
takes its name from its harrying the poultry-yard, but as it is entirely a bird 
of wild open moors and fens, instances of its attacking and carrying off chickens 
cannot have been frequent, and it may have been confounded with the Kite. The 
Hen-Harrier was plentiful enough in Col. Montagu’s time, who states that he 
frequently saw three or four on wing together, and was the first naturalist to 
point out that the “‘ Ring-tail,”’ formerly considered a distinct species, was only the 
female of the Hen-Harrier; this he conclusively proved by rearing a brood, taken 
from the nest in their white down, until they had assumed their full plumage, 
which they did in the autumn of their second year.* 
This Harrier ranges further to the north than the other two Harriers on the 
English list, having been found by Seebohm on the ¢undras of North Russia and 
Siberia, more than a hundred miles above the Arctic circle. On the Continent 
it is a summer visitor, arriving towards the end of March from the south, nesting 
in Holland, Jutland, Norway, Lapland, northern and central Russia, Poland, north 
and central Asia, and the north island of Japan. In the southern countries of 
Europe it is chiefly seen on passage; it winters in Africa, going as far south as 
Abyssinia; many also winter in the southern countries bordering the Mediterranean. 
The old male Hen-Harrier, in his blue-grey back and white under parts, not 
a little resembles a Gull as he flies over the ground with a decidedly gullish 
flight. One winter the writer spent on Lundy Island during a long-continued 
frost, when the ground was deeply covered with snow, an old male was daily seen 
feeding upon the starving Larks and Fieldfares. 
The nest, placed on the ground on a moor sometime in May, generally among 
* However, the Rev. H. A. Macpherson claims that Dr. Heysham, of Carlisle, made the discovery prior 
to Col. Montagu. ; 
Vor. II Q 
