MONTAGU'S HARRIER.
Circus Montagui, YARRELL. Falco hyemalis, PENNANT. Falco cineraceus, cinerarius and cinerareus, MONTAGU. Buteo cineraceus, FLEMING. JENYNS.
Circus—The Greek name of some species of Hawk. Montagui—Of Montagu.

I have followed Mr. Yarrell in both the Latin and the English denominations of this species, as the previous one has an equal right with it to the descriptive title of 'ash-coloured.' The compliment too of the name is properly claimed for Montagu, the first to discriminate the two species—'huic des nominis hujus honorem.'
Montagu's Harrier occurs in the southern countries of Europe, in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Silesia, Austria, Dalmatia, Illyria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and France; in Asia, in Palestine, Persia, as far east as India, China, and Ceylon; and in Africa, namely in Sennaar, Abyssinia, Kordofan, Algeria, the Cape, the Comoro Islands, and in the Canaries. In America it appears to be unknown.
The present is a much shyer species than the other, and therefore more versatile on the wing, the legs are also shorter and the wings longer.
Different views seem to have been taken as to the numbers of this bird among us. Mr. Hewitson's account seems to me to be the correct one, that 'though at one time more abundant than has been supposed, it is now becoming rare, and exceedingly difficult to procure.' It has been mostly met with of late in the southern and south-western counties: one in my possession, a young bird, was shot on the western border of Dorsetshire. It was given to me, and I had it stuffed, and have it still. In Yorkshire various specimens have been obtained, especially, as might readily be imagined by those who know the locality, on Thorne Moor, contiguous to the ' Level of Hatfield Chase,' where it used to breed not long since; also near Burlington Quay, as late as 1871. The Fens of the Eastern District would seem however to be rather its stronghold, as no doubt more or less other unre-claimed wastes in divers parts of the country. Two near Doncaster in 1835, others near York, one shot by the gamekeeper of Mr. Brodrick, of Hampole, afterwards in the hands of the Rev. R. Lucas, of Edith Weston; a pair were killed in Kent, near Dover, in 1845; one also at Midley, in Romney Marsh, in 1854. In Devonshire one, in Mr. Julian's collection; one near Kingsbridge, in 1847, and one near Plympton, in May, 1861. In Cornwall one at Enys, in the possession of Mr. Frank Enys, of Enys. It used to be not uncommon in the West of the County. In Sussex, Mr. Knox says that it has been more often met with than the Hen Harrier, also in Somersetshire, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Shropshire, Huntingdonshire, Northumberland, Pembrokeshire, and Norfolk. It becomes still less frequent towards the north, but appears to be known in Scotland, in Sutherlandshire, where it breeds near Bonar Bridge, and doubtless in other counties also; once, it is said, in Caithness. In Ireland it is believed that one if not more specimens have occurred, namely, at Bray, and Scalp, near Wicklow, but none have been preserved.
The flight of this species resembles that of the Hen Harrier, but Selby says that it is more rapid and more strikingly buoyant. They roost on the ground, and in large flocks in countries where they are plentiful.
Its food consists of small birds, such as larks and finches, as also, and indeed mainly, of snakes, which it seems to prefer to lizards, vipers, frogs, toads, and other reptiles, and even the eggs of small birds, which are said often to be swallowed whole, if not too large, grasshoppers and other insects.
Nidification commences in March or April, incubation in May, and the young are hatched in the middle of June or July, and the birds moult in August. The male brings the hen-bird food when sitting, for which she flies to meet him, and catches it in the air. She often begins to sit as soon as the first egg is laid, so that the young are of various ages.
The nest is built on the ground, generally in some tufb of furze, and is composed of grass, sedge, rushes, or flags.
The eggs are usually four or five in number, rarely six; they are white, or white with a cast of light blue, and in some instances spotted with brown.
Male; weight, between nine and ten ounces; length, about one foot five or six inches; bill, dusky black, the tip slender and very acute. Cere, dull yellow; iris, yellow; bristles almost hide the cere; head, neck, and nape, light ash-coloured; the ruff is but obscurely visible. Chin, throat, and breast, light ash-coloured on the upper half, white on the lower, the latter streaked down the shafts of the feathers with ferruginous. Back, ash-coloured, rather darker or brownish on the upper part. The wings expand to the width of three feet eight or nine inches, and extend, when closed, beyond the tail. Greater and lesser wing coverts, ash-coloured; primaries, nearly black, greyish at the tips; the third quill is the longest in the wing, being an inch longer than the second, the first is a little longer than the fifth; the outside ones are the darkest, and gradually become lighter. Secondaries, ash-coloured, the latter crossed by three dusky black bars, of which only one is visible above when the wings are closed. Tertiaries, ash-coloured; larger and Lesser under wing coverts, white, barred with light ferruginous; middle feathers of the tail, ash-coloured, the outer ones white, barred with ferruginous; underneath it is dull white, barred with dusky grey; under tail coverts, white. Legs, slender, yellow, and feathered in front about a fourth down; toes, slender and yellow; claws, black.
Female; weight, between thirteen and fourteen ounces; length, one foot six to one foot seven inches; bill, nearly black; cere, dull yellow; iris, yellow; over the eye is a streak of dull white; bristles on the cere. Crown and back of the head, reddish brown, edged with a lighter shade; neck, brown, nape, brown, edged with yellowish white. Chin and throat, light yellowish rufous; breast, light reddish brown, streaked with a darker shade. Back, dark brown, the feathers margined with ferruginous. Wings, as in the male, in proportion; greater and lesser wing coverts, dark brown, edged with ferruginous; primaries secondaries, and tertiaries, dusky; greater and lesser under wing coverts, brown. Tail, dark brown on the centre feathers, the side ones barred with two shades of reddish brown, except the outer, which are barred with reddish brown and white. Tail coverts, brown, mixed with a little white. Legs and toes, yellow; claws, black. In advanced age the whole plumage becomes lighter.
The young male in the first year has the head and neck ferruginous; each feather streaked with dark brown; chin, throat, and breast, uniform reddish brown. In the young female the breast is without the streaks; back, dark brown, (in my specimen nearly all the feathers are margined with light rufous;) greater and lesser wing coverts the same, margined with ferruginous; wings underneath, reddish brown; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, dull black; both the latter tipped with rufous. Tail, with five bands of dark and four of greyish brown; underneath, dull reddish white, with four or five bands of brownish grey; tail coverts, white, tipped with rufous; under tail coverts, pale rufous. In the next stage the head is brown and rufous; chin and throat, light grey; breast, white. Greater wing coverts, dark brown; lesser wing coverts, lighter brown, varied with rufous and grey; primaries and secondaries, blackish brown. Tail, except the two middle feathers, barred with brown and rufous; the middle ones have the outer webs light grey: the inner, grey, with five dark brown bands; underneath it is barred with greyish white and brown. Under tail coverts, white, with a rufous streak on the centre of each feather.
These birds vary extremely in plumage, the males occurring in every stage of gradation from the garb of the female to their own perfect hue; some even vary on different sides. I have seen two in the collection of Mr. Chaffey, of Doddington, Kent, and have heard of another, of a uniform dark colour, almost black. A fourth, a similar variety, is described in the 'Zoologist,' as having the nape irregularly marked with white.

"Let the Hawk stoop, his prey is flown."
Marmion.