Of late years the numbers of the Hen-Harrier have been greatly thinned by game-preservers, and it only nests now on a few of our largest and wildest moorlands and wastes. Even in Scotland it is fast decreasing so far as nesting goes, whereas it was once plentiful there. Still there are a fairly large number of young birds in the autumn, and then, too, the adult birds come down from the higher-lying districts to the lowlands. It used [Illustration: HARMFUL. THE HEN-HARRIER.] to breed in the Fen-lands of East Anglia until the reclaiming of marsh lands drove it away. As to this I may be allowed to quote again here from an old ballad written before the fens were drained, it gives the feeling of the fen-dwellers of that day. “Come brethren of the water, and let us all assemble, To treat upon this matter which makes us quake and tremble; For we shall rue it, if it be true that fens be undertaken, And where we feed on fen and reed, they’ll feed both beef and bacon. * * * * * The feathered fowl have wings, to fly to other nations, But we have no such things to help our transportation; We must give place--oh, grievous case--to hornéd beast and cattle, Except that we can all agree to drive them out to battle.” “As a gamekeeper once said to me,” says ‘A Son of the Marshes,’ “The sooner them big ’uns is gone or done for the better; there’s nothin’ but a chow-row from morning to night. Our head ’un says they must be knocked over, and the guv’nor he’s got the same tale. They can’t git at ’em no more than we. It ain’t so much what they ketches, tho’ they tries hard at it, as what they frightens off the fields; it spiles the shootin’. Them ’ere damned great things hovers an’ swishes after the birds till at last the coveys makes for the hedgerows an’ you has to git ’em out as if you was beatin’ for cocks. We ain’t had none o’ them ’ere blue an’ ring-tailed hawks--harriers--’bout here lately. They’re reg’lar wussers; they kills ’em dead at one clip, an’ takes ’em out in the middle o’ them big fields to eat ’em. They ain’t goin’ to let you get near ’em, not they, an’ they wun’t fly over a place where you kin hide. I’ve tried to git at ’em, but it all cum to nothin’. Them ’ere blue hawks an’ ring-tails would circumvent the devil.” The adult male has the upper parts a slatey-grey tone of colour, the rump white, throat and breast bluish-grey--under parts white. The female is brown above, the neck rufous-brown streaked with white--there is a distinct facial ruff, giving the head an owl-like appearance, suggesting that this species might be the link between Owls and Hawks--tail brown, having five darker bars, hence the old name of Ring-tail given to the female of this bird; under parts buff-brown with darker stripes. Length 21 inches. The young resemble the female. CHAPTER IX. RATIONAL BIRD PROTECTION.