Hen harrier

“ In habits it is very similar to the hen-harrier, but it has longer wings, and its range is not so northerly, for while the hen-harrier extends to Lapland, Montagu’s is but very rare in Scotland, though in the south of England it is the most common species. Harriers indeed in the British Islands are rapidly becoming things of the past. Their nests are easily found, and the birds when nesting are easily destroyed. ”

“ HARRIER, or Hen-Harrier, name given to certain birds of prey which were formerly very abundant in parts of the British Islands, from their habit of harrying poultry. The first of these names has now become used in a generic sense for all the species ranked under the genus Circus of Lacépède, and the second confined to the particular species which is the Falco cyaneus of Linnaeus and the Circus cyaneus of modern ornithologists. ”

“ The first two are much alike and easily confounded, the female in both being brown above and buffish with dark streaks below, while the tail is crossed by five umber bars. The male, which is bluish-grey with white rump and abdomen in the Hen Harrier, but is streaked beneath with rufous in the more slender Montagu's Harrier, is commonly considered a different species from the female by rustics, who call it the "Kite." ”

“ Montagu's Harrier breeding in Ireland. Correction.—I am sorry to have to correct the statement I made in 'The Zoologist' (1897, p. 467) . The specimen of the supposed Circus cinerascens shot in Co. Kerry has again been examined by Dr. Sharpe, and he has after all pronounced it to be only a young cock Hen Harrier.—John H. Teesdale (St. Margaret's, West Dulwich) . ”

“ Hen-Harrier.—R.R. Becoming rarer year by year, thanks to game-preservers and others. "Not uncommon" (Paget) . Occasionally brought to market from the Broad district in hard winters.
C. cineraceus. Montagu's Harrier.—R.R. Rarely nests on the Broads. Mr. J.H. Gurney estimates six nests for 1858, but only one for 1898 (Zool. 1899, p. 115) . More often met with than the two preceding. One caught in a bird-net on North Denes, April 28th, 1891.
Buteo vulgaris. Common Buzzard.—R.R. Occasionally turning up in autumn and winter in some numbers, as in September, 1881, when several were killed. ”

“ Hares are destroyed wholesale during the mowing of the grass and the reaping of the corn. For a time in summer, leverets especially seek this kind of cover, and farmers and farm-labourers kill numbers with dog and gun—and this at a time when they are quite unfit for food. In addition to these causes of scarcity there are others well known to sportsmen. When harriers hunt late in the season—as they invariably do now-a-days—many leverets are "chopped," and for every hare that goes away three are killed in the manner indicated. ”

“ Although the harrier is the best adapted for hare hunting, yet there are situations where he is too weak, being ill-suited for swampy and marshy lands, such as those of Lancashire and Lincolnshire, and many other places. The large low southern hound seems best calculated for such localities. Harriers which are of a larger description, and crossed for the purpose of speed, are only superior in open countries, where, for want of covert, the hare will run five or six miles right out without a single turn. ”

“ They frequent open plains, hillsides, and inclosed fields, hunting a few feet above the surface of the ground, and beating for game as skilfully as a well-trained spaniel. The moment that the Harrier sees a probable victim he rises to a height of twenty feet, hovers for a moment, and then comes down with unerring aim on his prey, striking dead with a single blow, Partridge or Pheasant, Grouse or Blackcock, and showing strength not to be expected from his light figure, and slender, though sharp talons. ”

“ Less active than the Falcons, they yet carry on a formidable [Pg 148] war against small birds, reptiles, and mice. The Harriers or Harrows are so called from their harrying propensities. Of similar import is the etymology of the English word 'havoc', which may be clearly traced to the Anglo-Saxon hafoc, or hawk. The habit of the Marsh Harrier is not to station itself on a tree or rock, thereon to explore the country; but while hunting, it is always on the wing, skimming along the ground, and beating about the bushes with a noiseless, unsteady flight, and always taking its prey on the ground. ”

“ We advance over the heather; and there, skimming towards us, is a large hawk—a harrier. As it flies near the ground, working as a pointer or setter would do, the species cannot be doubted. Now it stoops, glides, ascends, stoops again, and shoots off at right angles. Rounding a shoulder of a hill, it drops in a dark patch of ling. A covey of young grouse whirr heavily over the nearest brae—but the marsh harrier remains. ”

“ It is, indeed, a common belief that the modern Harrier is but a smaller edition of the Foxhound, employed for hunting the hare instead of the fox, and it is almost useless to reiterate that it is a distinct breed of hound that can boast of possibly greater antiquity than any other, or to insist upon the fact that Xenophon himself kept a pack of Harriers over two thousands years ago. ”

“ I have not seen many good points made by hares, and it is not in the straight run that the art of the huntsman and the virtues of the harrier are tested and brought into play. To enjoy the regular sport with a pack, you must have a keen appreciation of all the niceties of the game, and be able to watch with pleasure all the ins and outs, the windings and twistings so neatly unravelled with such a pretty hubbub of bass and treble music from the busy little hounds. There is a joy quite of its own in the cry of harriers and beagles (I am not speaking of dwarf fox-hounds) . ”

“ Success in hare-hunting depends more on perseverance; that in fox-hunting, on pace. It is curious to note that the old harrier type is being destroyed. The slow, deep-mouthed southern hound, the beagle, and the light, active, snipey-nosed harrier are going out before the modern craze to have harriers dwarf fox-hounds. My own idea is that no sport can be obtained equal to that which was afforded by harriers of the stamp that distinguished the pack until lately hunted by Mr. ”

“ Every man has a right to his own opinion, and mine is that the perfection of hare-hunting is with beagles. The average hare is overmatched by the modern harrier. The beagle is not too fast, his nose is finer, he far excels the harrier in vigilance, energy, and persistency, whilst the music of a pack of beagles is unequalled. ”

“ He anticipates the present improvement of the chase when he lays it down as a rule never to be departed from, that hounds of every kind should be kept to their own game. They should have one scent, and one style of hunting. Harriers will run a fox in so different a style from the pursuit of a hare, that they will not readily, and often will not at all, return to their proper work. The difference in the scent, and the eagerness of pursuit, and the noise that accompanies fox-hunting, all contribute to spoil a harrier. ”

“ Then again, harrier packs are of all degrees, from the perfection of the Blackmoor Vale, the Brookside, and some Devon or Welsh packs with unpronounceable names, down to the little scratch packs of six or seven couple kept among jovial farmers in out-of-the-way places, or for the amusement of Sheffield cutlers running afoot. The same failing that makes a considerable class reverently worship an alderman or a city baronet until they can get on speak [165] ing terms with a peer, leads others to boast of fox-hunting when the Brighton harriers are more than they can comfortably manage. ”

“ Personally, were I to criticise hare-hunting, I should say that too much of the chief diversion is the monopoly of the huntsmen—certainly the days I have thoroughly enjoyed have been those when I carried the horn myself. Again, with fast harriers or 20-inch fox-hounds, you must ride, but then you would do better with fox-hounds. If you went on foot, nature must have been lavish in her gifts if you have the physical power, courage, and endurance to enable you to keep near enough to see the beautiful detail of harrier work ”

“ They form the principal food of the many Sparrow Hawks, Pigeon Hawks, and Hen-harriers, which follow them as well as several other species, on their return from the Middle Districts, where they go towards spring, for the purpose of breeding. ”

“ Mr Froude has hunted the fox more frequently for the last two years than he used to do, and has bred two couples of hounds out of a favourite harrier bitch of his own by a clever foxhound from the celebrated blood of George Templar, Esq.: these are reserved expressly to go with the harriers, when drawing for a fox, to keep them steady to the varmint. Here instinct is clearly shown on the drag; and when the pack is well settled to the line of scent, the quickness and vivacity of the merry harrier are quickly apparent. ”

“ The harrier pursues the hare with great eagerness and speed, allowing her but little time to breathe or double. The keenest sportsmen often find it difficult to keep up with this dog, and with a strong hare it is rather fatiguing work. There is a great deal of melody and cheerful harmony in the voices of harriers during the chase.
Mr. Beckford, who was justly esteemed one of the best judges of dogs in Britain, endeavoured, as far as possible, to breed his harriers with much bone and strength within a small compass, and, at the same time, of a handsome make. ”

“ For proportionately numerous are the lark’s worst enemies, full of menace to the dearly loved young brood—the harriers, characteristic birds of the steppes. Whatever region we visit we are sure to see one or another of these birds of prey, in the north Montagu’s harrier, in the south the steppe-harrier, hurrying over his province, sweeping along near the ground in wavy, vacillating flight. Not unfrequently, over a broad hollow, four, six, eight or more may be seen at once absorbed in the chase. ”

“ The names, in fact, survive long after any recollection or tradition of the birds they really belong to. I once heard a man call a large female Sparrow Hawk a "Hare Harrier." The 'Hawk and Partridge' inn, at Bloxham, has a very old signboard, painted many years ago (sixty or seventy, at least, as far as I can ascertain) . It represents a very large Hawk striking at a fat Partridge standing placidly in the middle of a field. A very old keeper once described Harriers to me most accurately, and he called them "Partridge Hawks" (vide 'Birds of Oxon,' p. 34) . ”

“ Harriers Although there are packs of Harriers in various parts of the country, they are of a very limited number, hare-hunting with Hounds being a very inferior sport to that of fox-hunting. Moreover, hares are not as plentiful as in the days of our forefathers, in a large measure arising through diminished agricultural industry and commercial relations. ”

“ On the sea-shore, the Marsh Harrier commits great depredations among young water-fowl, and is often mobbed and driven from the neighbourhood by the assembled old birds. The Partridge and Quail often, too, fall victims to its voracity, so that the Marsh Harrier receives no quarter from gamekeepers. It places its nest generally near water, in a tuft of rushes, or at the base of a bush, constructing it of sticks, rushes, and long grass, and lays three or four eggs.
The Marsh Harrier is a widely dispersed species, being found, says Temminck, in all countries where there are marshes. ”

“ On the other hand, I have frequently mistaken a harrier (Circus cinereus, in the brown state of plumage) for a chimango, and have only discovered my mistake by seeing the commotion among the small birds. The harrier I have mentioned, also the C. macropterus, feed partly on small birds, which they flush from the ground and strike down with their claws. ”

“ It may well be said that the direction a lost hare has taken will most surely be the one which appears to be the least likely. It is the constant “doubling” which renders hare-hunting so difficult. The best pack of harriers I ever saw at work was one belonging to a Mr. Jeffreys. In colour they were black and tan, owing to a strong infusion of the blood-hound cross. These hounds, which were notorious, were exceedingly well handled by their owner, who contrived to account for an incredible number of hares in the course of the season. ”

“ Hare hunting requires considerable skill; Beckford Hare. even goes so far as to say: “There is more of true hunting with harriers than with any other description of hounds.... In the first place, a hare, when found, generally describes a circle in her course which naturally brings her upon her foil, which is the greatest trial for hounds. Secondly, the scent of the hare is weaker than that of any other animal we hunt, and, unlike some, it is always the worse the nearer she is to her end.” Hare hunting is essentially a quiet amusement ”

“ Hens are the forlornest of all created animals when it rains. Who can help laughing at sight of a flock of them huddled up under lee of a barn, limp, draggled, spiritless, shifting from one leg to the other, with their silly heads hanging inert to right or left, looking as if they would die for want of a yawn? One sees just such groups of other two-legged creatures in parlors, under similar circumstances. The truth is, a hen's life at best seems poorer than that of any other known animal. ”