ACCI P I TRES. FALCONIDÆ.
C ir c u s c y a n e u s (Linnaeus*).
THE HEN-HARRIER.
Circus cyaneus.
T h e decided difference in colour between the males and
females of most of the Harriers when adult is a subject now
well understood; but in no species is it more conspicuous than
the present. The old male, from his almost uniform ash-grey
colour, as seen in the figure, is often called provincially the
“ Dove-Hawk,” “ Blue Hawk” or “ Miller,” and by the more
general name of Hen-Harrier. The female, or “ Ringtail,”
as will appear from the description at the end of this article,
is entirely different; and a representation of the head of
* Falco cyaneus, Linnaiiis, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 126 (1766).
one forms the subject of the vignette, in which the circular
ruff around the face—a character more or less exhibited by
all the species of the genus, is distinctly seen. Though it
had been previously supposed by many naturalists that the
Hen-Harrier and the Ringtail were the male and female of
the same species, others held the opinion that they were
distinct, and Montagu seems to have been the first who
actually and clearly proved that the remarkable difference
between these two birds was but a sexual peculiarity.
These birds inhabit flat marshy situations, fens, low moors
and commons, partially covered with furze, heather, sedge
and low bushes. They feed indiscriminately on small mammals,
birds, and reptiles : twenty lizards were found in the
stomach of one killed near London. They have been considered
to be particularly destructive to the eggs and young
of gallinaceous birds, and consequently their destruction has
been much compassed by those who desired to preserve their
poultry or their game, though the almost entire disappearance
of this and the other species of Harriers from their chief
haunts, especially in the east of England, is due rather to
agricultural improvements which have brought into cultivation
large tracts of what was formerly waste land. Their
flight, performed apparently without much labour, is easy
and buoyant, but not rapid, and, except in the breeding season,
generally within a few feet of the surface of the ground,
which they examine with great care, making close and diligent
search for any object of food. They have been observed to
hunt the same ground regularly ; and a male bird has heen
seen to examine a large wlieat-stubble thoroughly, crossing it
in various directions, always about the same hour in the
afternoon, and for many days in succession.
The nest is placed on the ground ; the materials collected
to form it are ordinarily but few, consisting of small sticks
and coarse grass; when however it is placed on low wet
ground, so large a quantity of flags, sedge and reeds are
brought together as to raise it from eighteen inches to four
feet above the surface, as Mr. Hewitson was informed by one
of his correspondents. The eggs are four or five in number,