THE HARRIERS. 
129 
male is extremely vigilant, and as soon as he perceives an 
enemy, he comes towards him with a cry, and suddenly utter- 
ing a note like “ker-ker-ker,” produced at short intervals, he 
continues to charge and reveals at once the situation of the 
nest. The female will not budge from the nest, and is not 
more wary even after she has been fired at. Both parents are 
very assiduous in their care of the young ones. 
Eggs. — From four to six in number, bluish-white in colour, 
with occasionally yellowish-brown or rusty markings. Axis, 
I- 7-2-0 inches; diam., i-25-i-5. The Hen-Harrier is rather 
a late breeder, and lays its eggs towards the end of May and 
throughout the month of June. 
II. MONTAGU’S HARRIER. CIRCUS PYGARGUS. 
Fa/co pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 148 (1766). 
Circus cineraceus, Mont. ; Macg. Brit. B. iii. p. 378 (1840) ; 
Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 138 (1871) ; Seeb. Brit. B. i. 
p. 131 (1883). 
Circus ijygargtis, .Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 64 (1874) ; 
Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 423- pl- 328 (1878) ; B. O. U. List 
Br. B. p. 93 (1883) ; Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 309 (1889) ; 
Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xxvii. (1893). 
Adult Male.— General colour above bluish-grey, the wing- 
coverts slightly darker than the back, and having a terminal 
spot of dark ash-colour ; primary-coverts and secondary-quills 
silvery-grey, narrowly tipped with white, and crossed by two 
bands of black, very plainly seen on the under surface of these 
quills ; primary-quills black, the inner ones shaded with grey 
towards the tips and on the inner web; upper tail-coverts 
white, ashy-grey at the tips, with a sub-terminal shade of deep 
ashy colour, and sometimes with two ashy-grey bands ; tail- 
feathers cindcry-grey, the two central ones uniform, the re- 
mainder crossed with five broad bars of ashy-black, more 
rufous on the outer feathers, which have the interspaces white ; 
lores whitish ; the facial ruff cindery-grey like the head ; throat 
and breast pale bluish-ashy ; abdomen, flanks, thighs, and 
under wing- and tail-coverts white, with distinct longitudinal 
streaks of rufous fawn-colour ; axillaries with large diamond- 
shaped cross-markings of rufous ; cere greenish-yellow ; bill 
8 
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