MONTAGU’S HARRIER 
CIRCUS CINERACEUS. 
mbouvliooa ot uonar ±>nuge 
The numbers of Hen-Harriers that formerly resorted to the ucig — — -- — 
moors stretching from the north of Loch Shin towards Ren Armine and the adjacent lofty mountains 
probably led to the statement that this species frequented the district. During the years spent in the north 
I traversed this locality on several occasions, meeting with many pairs of Harriers and inspecting their nests 
and young * ; though every bird that came in view was examined with the utmost care, not a single specimen 
of Circus cineraceus could he detected. I have only observed this species in the southern and eastern 
counties of England; according to my own experience it evinces a partiality for either furze-clad downs or 
rough and uncut rush-marshes, the nature of the country in which it is found differing considerably from 
the stretches of wild moorland that form the favourite haunts of the Hen-Harrier. 
On many of the unreclaimed marshes in the east of Norfolk, rushes and other rank herbage are grown for 
litter, frequently remaining uncut for one or more seasons, by which means a heavy crop (termed “double 
whale” in the district) is obtained; the docks and lofty thistles, with the endless varieties of tangled marsh - 
plants and coarse grasses that flourish on the moist portions of the ground, render these flats almost 
impenetrable. Where the soil is occasionally flooded, or swamps and sladcs are still undrained, the common 
reed (. Phragmites communis) springs up in profusion, rearing its feathery heads above the dense undergrowth. 
To such spots these birds usually resort in this locality; though occasionally straying while on their 
rounds in search of prey to the drier marshes as well as the hills round the broads, it is only under 
the shelter of reeds or rushes that they attempt to rear their young. When breeding where the rush 
(Juncus glaucus) grows thick and strong, I remarked at times that the bare patch on which the nest is placed 
was exceedingly small, the surrounding cover leaving barely sufficient space for the bird to spread its 
wings Within a short distance other similar spots were occasionally found; these, the marshmen declared 
were the roosting-places of the male: one such station, evidently frequently used, was pointed out below 
an old furze bush on a marsh-wall about one hundred yards from where the female was sitting here the 
r: s “^r n ' and ma,iy feathers - “ ^ 
Though many opportunities for watching these Harriers have f-.llen ™ 1 
little o, nothing from personal observation concerning the nature of their prey. V^ers ■“ T 
and large moths * are supposed by the marshmen to constitute a considerable' poniou i 
t !£££.?£ V *T 1 ,h,t “ ««% in numbers. 
t Pipers and Sw.fts wore the names given by the natives to these reptiles 
+ Moths arc commonly known in the district as “ flics ” I well 
the buildings of a farm at night to search for a certain species of moth ^ IT*** ^ *“*1 to go round 
the farm-house opened, and a voice was heard exclaiming “ Is it the flies ye're after ? >’ ° m CXamimng the su S ar w *h a lamp, the door of 
