26 
Lost British Birds. 
same spot, that, provided only a single pair survives to 
represent the indigenous race, the ancestral haunt will not 
be deserted; but if that last native pair be destroyed, their 
place is rarely, if ever, again filled, even though many repre¬ 
sentatives of the species on their migratory course may visit 
our shores in spring; for these too are seeking some far-off 
home , and the local race may thus pass away for ever.” 
Practically the Ruff and Reeve have so passed away. We 
have already seen in Stevenson’s account of the black-tailed 
godwit’s extermination, that for twenty years after that 
mournful event one or two pairs annually returned to the 
old haunts and attempted to breed. That is the case with 
the ruff and reeve at present. Professor Newton believes 
that one pair still annually nest at Hickling, Norfolk, but 
only to have their eggs “ poached.” 
Mr. John Cordeaux writes ( Zoologist , 1890), “ The occa¬ 
sional appearance of Ruffs and Reeves in the future on our 
coast district, during the periods of their double passage, 
may reasonably be expected, but, unless England becomes 
dispeopled and uncultivated, nothing can ever bring back in 
numbers or variety the wealth of the ancient avi-fauna.” 
XIII. Hen Harrier —Circus cyaneus. Marsh 
Harrier, Ruff and Reeve, and Hen Harrier, have come to 
the end of their existence as British species almost if not 
quite simultaneously. Harriers are birds of the open— 
moorland and marsh—and nest on the ground; it follows 
that in a country where no interval of mercy, or Close Time, 
is extended to birds of prey, they are less able to escape 
destruction than the species which nest in cliffs and trees— 
falcons, kites, and buzzards. Of Harriers we possessed 
three species; of these the ash-coloured or Montagu’s 
Harrier still remains, but in fast diminishing numbers ; and 
it may now be set down among those birds whose extinction 
is merely a question of time. Of the three British species 
the Hen Harrier (the adult male) is undoubtedly the 
handsomest. From the soft blue grey colour of its plumage 
