OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS IN MID -WALES. 179 



Sparrow Hawk, Accipiter nisus. Common. Seems when 

 undisturbed to resort to the same nest year after year. 



Marsh Harrier, Circus ceruginosus. Many years ago nume- 

 rous about Borth and Tregaron bogs. Mr. Chas. Jeffreys, of 

 Glandyfi Castle, remembers when the Moor Buzzard, " the dark 

 brown Hawk with the light-coloured head," as well as the blue- 

 grey Hen Harrier, were to be seen daily working over the salt- 

 marsh below his house. Capt. G. W. Cosens has a young male 

 bird, which was obtained on Borth Bog about 1870. Another 

 was shot upon Tregaron Bog about 1882. 



Hen Harrier, C. cyaneus. Well known to those who 

 have shot over Borth and Tregaron bogs, or the marshy flats of 

 the Dysynni above Towyn, for Snipe and Ducks in winter. Mr. 

 F. Abel speaks of it as " the only Hawk which hunts the ground 

 regularly like a pointer." He has seen it strike at a Snipe, but 

 without success. On Tregaron Bog the Ducks have been seen to 

 make for the river and dive as the Harrier strikes at them. 

 Capt. Cosens tells me that as he was watching some Teal upon 

 the water a male bird came suddenly down upon them and 

 carried one off. I saw a King-tail quartering the bog on June 

 8th, 1892. An adult male and dark-coloured young bird are 

 preserved at Nanteos. 



Montagu's Harrier, G. cineraceus. Mr. F. T. Fielden, of 

 Borth, has an adult female, which he obtained November 5th, 

 1888. It weighed 9j oz. ; length, 18| in. The irides were 

 bright straw-yellow. 



Buzzard, Buteo vulgaris. Does not breed within a dozen 

 miles of Aberystwyth, but in the wilder hill districts is still to be 

 found in all suitable localities. A dozen pairs probably nest 

 within a three-mile radius of a remote sheep farm which we 

 have occasionally made our head-quarters. We have seen three 

 pairs in the course of a morning upon the upper Wye, working 

 in a slow, business-like way along the rocky slopes, probably in 

 search of beetles and earth-worms. One in the Brecon Beacons, 

 March 29th, 1894. The Buzzard is always to be seen on Cader 

 Idris. It does not now breed upon the Bird Bock, owing to 

 persecution; was very numerous in that neighbourhood till 

 about 1876, when, strict game-preserving coming into vogue at 

 Peniarth Uchaf, many were destroyed, " up to nine in one week." 

 Three eggs were taken in 1894 from a nest within sight of the 



p2 



