the species of this genus traverse the surface looking for prey,
like a dog hunting for game, they have probably acquired
the name of Harriers. The Marsh Harrier is said to roost
on the ground, and may be seen sitting on a stone or low
bush, seldom on a branch of a tree, looking out for objects
for food, which it strikes when on the ground, and is not
very particular in its choice, feeding on young rabbits or
other small mammalia, birds,—preferring water birds,—reptiles,
and, according to some authors, occasionally taking
perch and other kinds of fish. The nest is placed on the
ground, among long coarse grass, in a bunch of rushes, fern
or furze, or at the base of a bush. The nest is formed of
small sticks, rushes, or long grass: the eggs are three or four
in number, of an oval shape, rather pointed at one end,
white, two inches one line in length, and one inch six lines
in breadth.
The Marsh Harrier occurs in most of the counties of
England and Wales ; in Ireland it has been ascertained,
according to Mr. Wm. Thompson, to exist also in several
counties from Cork to Antrim : it is found also in Scotland
and in the Hebrides. It inhabits Denmark, Norway, Sweden,
and the South of Russia, Germany, France, Holland,
Spain, Italy, and Turkey. Mr. Strickland observed this
species at Smyrna; and other naturalists have seen it at Tre-
bizond, Tripoli, and Egypt. Mr. Gould, in his Birds of
Europe, mentions having received specimens of this bird in
collections from the Himalaya Mountains; and Major Franklin
obtained it in other parts of India.
The whole length of a Marsh Harrier is from twenty-one
to twenty-three inches, depending on the sex of the specimen.
The figure here given was taken from an adult bird in the
British Museum, in which collection there are examples of various
ages. In an adult male, the beak is bluish black, with a
slight festoon on the cutting edge ; the cere and irides yellow;
the top of the head, cheeks, and nape of the neck,
yellowish white, tinged with rufous, and streaked with dark
brown; the back, wing-coverts, and tertials, dark reddish
brown, with lighter margins ; the primaries brownish black;
the secondaries and all the tail-feathers ash grey. This
state of plumage is not assumed till the third moult. In
birds that are still older, the wing-coverts and tertials in
addition become partially or entirely ash grey ; the wing-
primaries slate grey ; the chin and throat nearly white;
the breast rufous, streaked longitudinally with dark brown ;
belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts, reddish brown, each
feather streaked with dark brown ; the legs long, slender,
and yellow ; the toes yellow ; the claws sharp and black.
In young birds of the year, the whole of the plumage is
chocolate brown; the feathers tipped with lighter reddish
brown: the irides at this age are darker in colour than in
the adult bird ; the legs and feet as in old birds.
In the second year, the head, neck, chin, and throat become
dull yellow, with an occasional patch of the same colour
on the carpus, or anterior point of the wing. The figure by
Mr. Bewick represents a bird in its second year.
Duck Hawk, Harpy, and White-headed Harpy, are names
occasionally bestowed on the Marsh Harrier.