26 
FALCO CYANEUS. 
second section, the changes are most extraordinary, 
since, while the adult male is of a very uniform light 
colour, approaching to white, the female and young are 
very dark, and much spotted and banded : they are also 
much more conspicuously distinguished by the rigid 
facial ring. 
These birds are bold, and somewhat distinguished 
for their agility, especially when compared with the 
buzzards ; and in gracefulness of flight they are hardly 
inferior to the true falcons. They do not chase well 
on the wing, and fly usually at no great height, making 
frequent circuitous sweeps, rarely flapping their wings, 
and strike their prey upon the ground. Their food 
consists of mice, and the young of other quadrupeds, 
reptiles, fishes, young birds, especially of those that 
build on the ground, or even adult water birds, seizing 
them by surprise, and do not disdain insects ; for which 
habits they are ranked among the ignoble birds of prey. 
Unlike most other large birds of their family, they 
quarter their victims previously to swallowing them, 
an operation which they always perform on the ground. 
Morasses and level districts are their favourite haunts, 
being generally observed sailing low along the surface, 
or in the neighbourhood of waters, migrating when 
they are frozen. They build in marshy places, among 
high grass, bushes, or in the low forks or branches of 
trees ; the female laying four or five round eggs, entirely 
white, or whitish, without spots. During the nuptial 
season, the males are observed to soar to a considerable 
height, and remain suspended in the air for a length of 
time. 
The male hen-harrier is eighteen inches long, and 
forty-one in extent ; the bill is blackish horn colour ; 
the cere greenish yellow, almost hidden by the bristles 
projecting from the base of the bill; the irides are 
yellow. The head, neck, upper part of the breast, 
back, scapulars, upper wing-coverts, and middle tail- 
feathers, pale bluish gray, somewhat darker on the 
scapulars ; the upper coverts, being pure white, consti- 
tute what is called a white rump, though that part is 
