Hen Harrier.
Falco cyaneus, et pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. pp. 126-128.
strigiceps, Nilss. Faun. Suec., tom. i. p. 21.
Circus JEgithus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. & Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 9.
gallinarius, Savig. Descr. de l’Egypte, Hist. Nat., tom. i. p. 92.
— pygargus, C u t . Regn. Anim., edit. 1 8 1 7 , tom. i. p . 3 2 4 .
( Strigiceps) cyaneus, et uliginosus, Kaup, Mus. Senckenb., p. 258.
cyaneus, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 549.
Pygargus dispar, Koch, Syst. der Baier. Zool., p. 128.
Strigiceps pygargus, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 5.
Buteo cyaneus, Jenyns, Man. Brit. Yeft. Anim., p. 89.
W e r e I to say to the rising ornithologists of the present day, " I f you wish to see the Hen Harrier and its
consort the Ringtail performing their buoyant and elegant flight, and hunting in concert b rer an open part
of the country, go to the Gossmoor o f Cornwall, the lofty hills o f charming Devon, the great heaths of Surrey,
Sussex, and Hampshire, the flat fenny districts of Suffolk, Norfolk, Huntingdon, and Lincolnshire, the Yorkshire
wolds, the fells of W estmoreland and Cumberland, the rnshy hill-sides o f the Scottish border, the
Cheviots, and the Grampians, as far north as the land trends,” I fear I should be sending them on a bootless
errand ; yet there was a time, aod that within the present century, when the birds might have been seen in
any of the localities above enumerated. Such, however, is now rarely the case. Nature and her productions
have been greatly interfered w ith ; some species have been extirpated from districts where they were
formerly pleutiful, while others have become abundant in situations where previously they were but little
known. That the Harriers and other large predatory birds are no longer to be found in their wonted
haunts is not to be wondered at when we remember how large a portion of the country formerly in a natural
condition has now been brought under cultivation, and that the keeper and the shepherd exterminate them
whenever they can. I t is not to be expected that such people are imbued with the love for nature and her
wonderful works which reigns in the breast o f the true n a turalistr they do not even care to read the many
beautiful passages which have been written on our native birds, from the time of Gilbert White to that of
those authors who have but recently passed away, among which none are perhaps more truly descriptive of
the habits and actions o f birds than Macgiliivray's,—who, speaking of the Circus cyaneus says
“ Having examined the form, and somewhat o f the structure of the Hen Harrier, we are prepared for the
exhibition o f its faculties. Kneel down here, then, among the long broom, and let ns watch the pair that
have ju st made their appearance on the shoulder of the hill. Leave these beautiful flowerets to the inspection
of yonder botanist, who, should he wander hitherward, will be delighted to cull the lovely tufts of maidenpinks
that surround us. >
“ How beautifully they glide along, in their circling flight, with gentle flaps of their expanded wings,
floating as it were in the air, their half-spread tails inclined from side to side, as they bahuice themselves or
alter their course! Now they are near enough to enable us to distinguish the male from the female. They
seem to be hunting in co n cert: and their search is k e e n ; for they fly at times so low as almost to touch the
bushes, and never rise higher than thirty feet. The grey bird hovers, fixing himself | the air like the
Kestrel; now he stoops, but recovers himself. A hare breaks from the cover; but they follow her not,
though doubtless, were they to spy her young one, it would not escape so well. The female now hovers for
a few seconds, gradually sinks for a short space, ascends, turns a little to one side, closes her wings, and
comes to the ground. She has secured her prey ; for she remains concealed among the furze; while the
male shoots away, flying a t the height of three or four yards, sweeps along the hawthorn hedge, bounds over
it to the other side, turns away to skim over the sedgy pool, and hovers there a short while. He now enters
upon the grass field, when a Partridge springs off, and he pursues it with a rapid gliding flight; bat they have
turned to the right, and the wood conceals them from our view. In the meantime the female has sprung up,
and advances, keenly inspecting the ground, and so heedless of our presence that she passes withm twenty
yards of us. Away she speeds, and in passing the pool again stoops, but recovers herself, and, rising in a
beautiful curTe, bounds over the plantation and is out o f sight.
I The Hen Harrier feeds upon small birds and the young of larger, on young hares and rabbits, on mice,
frogs, lizards, and serpents. For the most p art it pounces upon its victims as they repose upon the ground ;
but it also pursues birds in open flight; and, so farfrom confining itself to feeble game, it has been known
to seize the Red Grouse, Ptarmigan, and Partridge.