BIRDS 181 



tunities of seeing both birds ; which were henharriers and ring- 

 tails ; and which were almost all shot when flying about us at 

 the nests. Since that time I have seen several other nests, but 

 never observed either two ringtails or two henharriers at the 

 same nest.' The credit of deciding the identity of the ' ring- 

 tail ' has been assigned to Montagu. Not only was he antici- 

 pated, however, by Dr. Heysham's personal examination of a 

 number of Hen Harriers of both sexes, shot at their nests, but 

 the Doctor also anticipated the Colonel in keeping young 

 Harriers in confinement to observe the stages through which 

 they passed. Two of the young birds taken at Newtown 

 in 1783 lived nearly a year and three-quarters in captivity, and 

 a change was noticed in the colour of the irides of the male. 

 Allusion has hitherto been made to small birds only, as forming 

 the food of this Harrier, but Dr. Heysham also found that it 

 preyed upon and seemed fond of lizards. 



The Hen Harrier must have been extremely common at that 

 time, for the doctor tells us that by 1796 he had made 

 1 accurate observations on upwards of twenty nests when filled 

 with young ; and invariably found each nest frequented by the 

 henharrier and ringtail.' The Hen Harrier never sat upon 

 the eggs, but will support the young after the Ringtail has been 

 killed. Dr. Heysham himself shot a goodly number of Harriers 

 in the interests of scientific research. The ruthless hand of the 

 game-preserver pressed on the task of extermination. Already 

 the Duke of Buccleuch's gamekeeper had destroyed some 

 hundreds, and had frequently shot both male and female from 

 the same nest. Lord Carlisle's gamekeeper had done the same. 

 Information is unfortunately wanting as to Westmorland after 

 Richardson's time, for both Mr. Hindson and Dr. Gough 

 observe a discreet silence. 



We cannot, however, doubt that this Harrier was then 

 generally distributed in Westmorland and North Lancashire. 

 In August 1888 Mr. Richard Mann pointed out to me a long 

 stretch of gorse and whin called ' the hards/ situated between 

 Allonby and Abbey Town. Here his late father, who was born 

 in 1808, assured him that, as a boy, he had found the nest of 

 'the glead' for several successive years, no doubt prior to 1825. 



