This bird is essentially a frequenter of the open 

 country, be it heath and furze-clad common, fen, or 

 corn-land : the nest is usually, if not invariably, placed 

 on the ground, on a bare spot amongst furze, heather, 

 or sedge ; in certain localities a field of growing wheat, 

 barley, oats, or rye is often selected as a secure nesting- 

 place, the essentials being concealment and security 

 from disturbance. The few nests of the Hen-Harrier 

 that I have seen were composed entirely of dry sedge 

 or coarse grass, very loosely put together. The eggs, 

 three or four in number, are of a very pale blue-green, 

 often freckled with specks of light rust-colour; the 

 young birds can generally fly about the end of June. 

 During the sitting-time the female Harrier is fed by 

 the male, who drops the prey to her as he hovers above 

 her ; this is done so instantaneously that to any one 

 watching from a distance the action is hardly percep- 

 tible. Besides the localities to which I have referred 

 the Hen-Harrier habitually nests in undrained fen- 

 lands amidst reeds and sedge ; but, as a rule, I consider 

 this species, from my own acquaintance with it, as less 

 of a marsh bird than either of the other two British 

 Harriers. In quest of food the Hen-Harrier is most 

 systematic, regularly frequenting the same spots day 

 after day about the same hour, and quartering the 

 " beat " in every direction in an apparently desultory 

 but virtually most thorough-going fashion. The flight 

 of this species is very light and buoyant, and as noise- 

 less as that of the larger Owls. A friend, who is a 

 most excellent observer and specially acquainted with 

 raptorial birds, informs me that when a Hen-Harrier 



