CIRCUS CINERACE US.
Ash-coloured Harrier.

Falco cineraceus, Mont. Orn. Dict.

cinerartus, Mont. ibid. Supp.

— emacs Mont. Trans. of Linn. Soc., vol. ix. p. 188

—— ceinerascens, Barb. Rev. Zool. 1838, amie oe :

ras Penn. Brit. Zool., edit. 1812, vol. i p. 243

Circus BAai tis, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mami & Birds in Brit. 4
GL ASCnS, Steph. Cont. Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xii ae ee
cineraceus, Naum. Vog. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 402 i " ee
eae Ue Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. a D 411
cinereus, Kaup, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck., p. 258 nea se

Buteo cineraceus, Flem. Hist. Brit. Anim., p. 55.

Sirigtceps cineraceus, Bonap. Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer
Circus (Glaucopteryx) cineraceus, Kaup, Classif. der Saug ital viene t ‘
Glaucopteryx cinerascens, Kaup, Mon. Fale. in Jard. Om Cait v0 5 a |

 

 

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On a superficial view this species might be mistaken for the Hen Harrier, but 2
would soon prove to the most sceptical that it is really distinct ; Dr. sai spiel a of the two birds
type of a eee genus, to which he has given the name of Glaucopteryx. It : a sm: bite a ee
lighter bird than the Hen Harrier; and its longer wings are crossed _ a inal . - eee
its tail are different in form and richer in colour, as are also the flanks and thighs : ais ee :

5 > S, moreove

eupject to so many changes of plumage between youth and maturity that two specimens can rarely be fi ;
alike; the young males in particular are extremely variable, some being marked very like ae _ 2 ee
others are of a nearly uniform rufous brown, and others almost black. As to manners a nee . ene
pretty much on a par; and their distribution over England is very similar. Like the H HL, ‘ri ible
species was more common in former times ; and it is now, I believ re iil abel
RE es ecibutable toi 3 | oi leve, more HUMETOUS than its ally—a cir-
ep ecanice whic ie utable to its greater powers of flight, and probably to its disposition to wander
hither from other countries, to fill up, as it were, the void caused in its numbers by the destructive hand of
the keeper. It is therefore occasionally to be met with in all parts of England, from the western county of
Cornwall to as far north as Northumberland. In June 1867 Col. Napier Sturt submitted to me sata
female killed on Poole Heath, in Dorsetshire. ‘Thompson remarks that “it is not known as an Irish species ;
nor has it a place among Scottish birds, according to Macgillivray and Jardine.” o
The examples of the Ash-coloured Harrier most frequently met with are in the plumage of immaturity; but
individuals in the perfect grey dress are sometimes seen. In speaking of its general distribution over hae
land, I ofcourse mean in such districts as are suited to its habits and economy ; for it would be as useless to
seek it among our woodlands as to look for a Kite over the fens. Like the Hen Harrier, it loves the open
country, whether it be the high fell or the low marsh, where it may readily procure the snakes, frogs,
newts, and insects which constitute its favourite diet,—not that it refuses to prey upon moles, rats, and ie
young of rodents of a larger kind, the hare and the rabbit, to which may be added the youthful game-birds
of all kinds, its propensity for killing which
destruction.

apart from England the Ash-coloure
It is abundant in Holland and Holstein, and in all

induces the keeper to include it in his list of vermin and to

resort to every artifice for its
In other parts of the world
idely spread than the Hen Harrier.
sons of the Continent from France
orth Africa, Asia Minor, and India,

d Harrier is, I believe, both more numerous

and more w
the fluviatile port
distributed over N
dance in every part of the country.

As might be supposed, the flight of this species is very simil
remarks that it is more rapid and more strikingly buoyant.

Speaking of Circus cineraceus as seen in Norfolk, Mr. Steve
generally supposed, and has been known to breed with us in seve

the entire drainage of the south-western fens, this Harrier was not only the most
was the last to quit alt For many details respecting the nesting of this

species and the specimens aders to the first volume of Mr. Stevenson's

‘Birds of Norfolk,’ p. 40.
Mr. Alfred Newton states, in his

to Bulgaria and the Crimea ; and it is very generally

where, Mr. Jerdon informs us, he has found it in abun-
ar to that of the Hen Harrier; but Mr. Selby

ison says “it is certainly less rare than is
ral instances of late years 3... - previously to
plentiful in that locality, but

ne

ogether those once favourite haunts.”
taken in the county, I must refer my re

‘Qotheca Wolleyana, that Vipers, of Upware, in Cambridgeshire, told