HEN HARRIER 
191 
build and broad of wing. The adult male is mostly 
brown, with a paler head and breast, and some grey 
on the wings and tail ; the female is brown nearly 
all over, and so are the immature young. The 
nest is built of reeds, upon the marsh ; three to five 
eggs are laid, of an unspotted bluish-white. The 
food consists of eggs, small or young birds and 
animals, and trogs and reptiles. The methodical, 
hound-like way in which these hawks quarter the 
ground in search of their prey is a conspicuous 
characteristic, and has given them their family 
name. 
HEN HARRIER. 
{Circus cyaneus.) 
Blue Hawk, Dove Hawk (male). Ringtail 
(female). — This is a bird of the moor and mountain 
as well as of the marsh, and it has consequently not 
suffered to the same extent as the last species from 
fen reclamation ; though it has been greatly 
reduced in numbers by the general increase of 
agriculture, population, and game-preserving. It 
nests in parts of Scotland and Ireland, and rarely in 
the north of England and Wales, while foreign 
birds are sometimes seen on migration in spring 
