134 
ALL7iN’s naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
fully adult females of the Marsh-Harrier resembled the male 
in plumage, nor am I yet convinced that both in this species 
and Montagu’s Harrier, the full plumage of the female birds is 
not a counterpart of that of the males. I am bound to con- 
less, however, that recent observers have not confirmed mv 
opinion Mr. Howard Saunders and Colonel Irby, both of 
whom have seen numbers of this Harrier in life, describe the 
emale as brown above, chocolate-brown below, with a creamv- 
white margin to the carpal bend of the wings, and the head 
butt or creamy-white, streaked with blackish-brown. The tail 
IS entirely brown. 
Young Birds.— At first the plumage of the young bird is en- 
tirely chocolate-brown, including the head. The latter gradu- 
ally becomes creamy-white like that of the old female, which 
the bird then closely resembles. The iris is blackish. 
Characters.— Apart from its much larger size, the Marsh- 
Harner is further distinguished from the other two British 
species by its rufous thighs, which sometimes have whitish 
spots or margins to the feathers. The tail in the adult male 
and female is uniform gny, and this last character will dis- 
tinguish the melanistic birds also, though these have darker 
coloured thighs, in fact almost blackish in tint. Yotmg birds 
apart from their large size, may unfailingly be distinguished by 
having the outer web of the fifth primary notched; the chest 
perfectly uniform, with no streaks, the chin and centre of the 
fonT '^ebs of the primaries uni- 
Range m Great Britain.— The Marsh-Harrier may now be 
considered only an occasional visitor to the British Islands 
though It was formerly a regular breeder in the fen districts of 
England, mid its nest has been recorded from many counties 
Occasional captures in Scotland are recorded, but the evidence 
as to Its nesting is not satisfactory. In Ireland, however it 
^ill nests and Mr. Ussher says that it “breeds sparingi; in 
Queens County and Galway, and, probably, also in King’s 
County and Westmeath, but it seems to have been exter- 
’ L°;;,^°"<ierry, Tyrone, Down, Monaghan, 
Fermanagh, Kilkenny, lipperary, Cork, and Mayo, and has 
now become very rare.^^ 
