150 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Incubation. — Chiefly by female, but male has been found on eggs 

 occasionally. Period over five weeks. Single brooded. Fledging- 

 period. — About five weeks. 



Food. — Mainly amphibians, reptiles, eggs of birds and water -fowl 

 taken unawares. Frogs, toads, water-snakes and an occasional 

 fish, together with eggs and nestlings of marsh-breeding birds 

 (such as Coot, Waterhen, Purple Heron, etc.) and an occasional 

 water-rat or wounded bird form bulk of food. Remains of rabbit 

 have also been found in nest. 



Distribution. — England and Wales. — Occasionally breeds Norfolk 

 (as in 1915 and 1919) but elsewhere now only rare autumn and 

 winter- vagrant. Scotland. — Rare vagrant. Has occurred several 

 times in Solway area, but elsewhere only some eight recorded. 

 Ireland. — Still lingers or some midland and western tracts of bog. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Nesting in Europe and northern Asia ; 

 in winter in parts of Africa and India. Accidental Canaries and 

 Fseroes. Represented in north-west Africa by C. cb. harterti. 



CIRCUS PYGARGUS 



258. Circus pygargus (L.)— MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 



Falco Pygargus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 89 (1758 — Europe. 



Ex Albin. Typical locality : England). 



Circus cineraceus (Montagu), Yarrell, 1, p. 138 ; Saunders, p. 319. 



Description (Plate 4). — Adult male. Winter and summer. — 

 Whole upper-parts ashy -grey usually and especially when worn 

 brownish or mixed dark brown, radii only of feathers being ashy- 

 grey and rami dark brown ; upper tail-coverts with narrow white 

 tips and white bases barred or spotted with dark grey and basally 

 with rufous ; feathers of lores with black bristle-like tips and 

 whitish tufts at base ; round eye hoary (only very slight indication 

 ot facial ruff) ; ear-coverts, sides of neck, chin, throat and breast 

 ashy-grey as upper-parts but seldom becoming brown in worn 

 plumage ; rest of under-parts white more or less washed grey 

 (varying somewhat individually), feathers streaked pale chestnut, 

 varying in width ; axillaries white barred chestnut, under wing- 

 coverts white streaked varying amount chestnut and sometimes 

 pure white, those covering primaries widely and irregularly barred 

 greyish-black ; tail-feathers narrowly tipped white, central pairs 

 and outer webs of rest ashy-grey wearing to brown as upper-parts, 

 inner webs of inner pairs brownish-grey more or less mixed with 

 white on basal portion and widely barred dark brown to brown, 

 outer pairs white and barred rufous-brown to pale chestnut, which 

 sometimes encroaches on to outer webs ; outer six primaries black 

 with grey tips (lost when worn), 7th with considerably more grey 

 on distal portion, 8th to 10th ashy-grey with inner webs with varying 

 amount of white broadly barred brown-black, secondaries as 8th 



