Identifier: britainsbirdsthe00thom (find matches)
Title: Britain's birds and their nests
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thomson, Arthur Landsborough, Sir, 1890- Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur), 1861-1933 Rankin, George
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Nests
Publisher: London : W. & R. Chambers
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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by their slender build, theirlength of leg and tail, the long, pointed wings, and theslight ruff on the sides of the neck. Their method ofhunting is also characteristic, and consists in quarteringthe open ground with great regularity, the flight beingleisurely and very low. Field-mice, eggs and youngbirds, lizards, frogs, and even lai-ge insects are the prey. Three species are native to the British Isles; but noneof them is now common, and it must suffice to selectone as a type. The Hen-Harrier was once fairly numerousover much of our area, but game-preserving and agri-cultural improvements have meant its virtual extermina-tion. On only a few of the wildest moors in England andWales is it now found nesting, and in Scotland andIreland it is scarcely more flourishing. In winter thespecies appears to be even less common, but on theautumn migration it is more numerous. Slate-blue isthe predominant colour of the adult male; but the female,which the immature birds resemble, is brown in hue.
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Plate 59. HEN-HARRIER—OVV/z-f cyanais. Length, 19 in. ; wing, 13-5 in. (AcciPlTRES : Falconidce.)Y 192 BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 19S So great is the difference that the birds were oncethought to be distinct species, and the female is stillsometimes called by the name Ring-tail/ from the barson the tail. The male is called Blue-Hawk or Dove-Hawk, or wrongly receives such titles as Goshawk. The nest is placed on the ground on a bare moor orin a grain-field. It may be a slight or a bulky structureof roots and herbage. The eggs are from four to six innumber and of a bluish-white colour, sometimes withyellowish or reddish markings. The female begins toincubate late in May, continuing for about three weeks.The young are of the usual accipitrine type. THE MARSH-HARRIER (Circus seruginosus). The Marsh-Harrier is an even rarer member of thegroup, having been very seriously affected by the drainageand reclamation of many formerly marshy districts whichit frequented. The head is creamy-w

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