28 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



Plumage.— The Harriers, at least the 

 males, of the several species are subject to 

 great changes, v%-ith regard to colour ; and 

 there is no wonder that the males and 

 females of the same species should, at first, 

 have been taken for distinct species. The 

 present species, though not subject to change 

 to the same extent as the two next to be 

 described, varies considerably between the 

 nest plumage and the garb of maturity, and 

 I feel by no means certain as to which 

 should be described as the adult dress. The 

 adult is figured and described by Yarrell as 

 having the tail and wing coverts bluish grey, 

 and he states that this state of plumage is 

 arrived at after the third moult. Gould, in 

 his magnificient work on the " Birds of 

 Great Britain," gives tv.-o plates, one of 

 them representing the adult bird in this 

 same state of plumage. Morris also gives 

 a similar figure as the adult bird. If this 

 be the regular adult plumiage, it seems 

 strange that out of the many specimens 

 which have come under my notice, not one 

 of them should have been in this particular 

 dress. I know of no instance of its having 

 occured in this plumage in Britain, and 

 Bl5i:h states that it has not occurred even 

 in Europe ; though Mr. Bond states that he 

 has seen two specimens killed in this 

 countr}', with a decided tint of grey on the 

 wings and upper side of the tail, but not 

 nearly so light as some foreign specimens 

 which have come under his notice. On the 

 contrary, it is stated to be of common 

 occurrence in India, and Jerden states that 

 Gould and Yarrell took their figures from 

 Indian specimens. This information I 

 obtain from Hancock's " Hand-book of the 

 Birds of Northumberland and Durham, ' 

 and I concur with him in thinking this a 

 variety, or local formi, or race. Some birds, 

 as I shall have to show in the case of the 

 Crossbill, only assume their final dress after 

 a number of years, and an almost equal 

 number of changes ; and this may be the 



case with the Marsh Harrier of the East, 

 but here at least it cannot assume this 

 dress "after the third moult," otherwise it 

 would be certain to come under the obser- 

 vation of ornithologists oftener than it does. 

 This form is represented in the upper figure 

 on plate 13.* 



The mature bird then, of this country 

 at least, I will describe as being of an almost 

 uniform dark brown, the feathers on the 

 crown, nape, and chin, whitish yellow, with 

 a brown streak down the centre of each 

 feather. Sometimes they occur without 

 the orange spots on the head. Bill bluish 

 black ; cere and legs bright yellow. 



Inmature birds may be known by the 

 nape, &c,, being less streaked with brown, 

 and the light portion of a deeper orange. 

 The rest of the body is not of so uniform a 

 brown, the feathers being margined with 

 paler colour. 



The Young at first are covered with 

 white down. 



Varieties having part of the flight 

 feathers and other parts of the body white, 

 are recorded by Selby, Latham, Montague, 

 &c., but I have been unable to obtain one 

 of these to figure. 



Note. — This bird is generally silent, 

 but during the breeding season both sexes 

 utter a clear and rather loud call, resembling 

 the syllable "keew."' The female also call 

 somewhat like '^pee up," rather prolonged, 

 but clear and shrill. 



Flight.— The flight of the Marsh 

 Harrier is low, skimming noiselessly along 

 near the ground, and pouncing instantly 

 upon its prey when observed. At intervals 

 it alights upon an eminence to devour its 



* Since the above was in type I have been informed that 

 two specimens in this state of plumage are recorded in 

 Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk " as having been obtained 

 in that county. This hawk seems to have been plentiful 

 in Norfolk many years ago, yet he states that adult birds 

 are extremely rare, thus, a very great majority of Marsh 

 Harriers must have died a premature death. 



