. The sportsman's British bird book . well as the whole of Cen-tral and northern Asia, in-clusive of the Himalaya andJapan, the hen-harrier has dis-appeared as a nesting-speciesfrom most parts of the BritishIslands with startling rapidity,almost before our very winter the species migrates to north-eastern Africa, south-westernAsia and China, a few stragglers visiting the plains of northern regards the British Isles, the enclosure of waste lands, which formits chief haunts, and in later years incessant persecution on the part ofgamekeepers and collectors, appear to have been th
. The sportsman's British bird book . well as the whole of Cen-tral and northern Asia, in-clusive of the Himalaya andJapan, the hen-harrier has dis-appeared as a nesting-speciesfrom most parts of the BritishIslands with startling rapidity,almost before our very winter the species migrates to north-eastern Africa, south-westernAsia and China, a few stragglers visiting the plains of northern regards the British Isles, the enclosure of waste lands, which formits chief haunts, and in later years incessant persecution on the part ofgamekeepers and collectors, appear to have been the chief factors whichhave led to its extermination in many districts and its rarity in late as the year 1824 as many as a dozen harriers are recorded asnesting at once on a common of some sixty acres in Lincolnshire ; andup to about 1850 the moors were favourite breeding-hauntsof the species, the last-reported nest having been taken in that Norfolk a nest was, however, recorded in 1861, and a second HEN-HARRIEK (ADULT FEMALE). HEN-HARRIER 385 Huntingdonshire about the same date, while a third was taken inShropshire so recently as 1890. On the other hand, the hen-harrierresumed breeding in Cornwall in 1903, and has continued to do soevery year since. The only English eggs in the British Museum area pair from Dorsetshire and one from Northumberland, There are, however, in the Museum collection a number of eggsfrom the Orkneys, as well as several from the mainland of Scotland,and one Welsh specimen. From a large part of the west of Scotland,where it was once common, the species has disappeared as a breeding-bird, the last nest in the Argyll district having been taken in the north of Scotland, as well as in the Orkneys and some of theother isles, it apparently, however, still breeds locally. In Ireland itis now to be met with in many of the mountainous districts as aresident, although in ever-decreasing numbers ; and there are severalloca
Size: 1410px × 1772px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorlydekkerrichard184919, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
