Page:White - The natural history of Selborne, and the naturalist's calendar, 1879.djvu/415

Rh flavour to their flesh, that is, to me, very palatable: the flavour also of wild ducks and geese greatly depends on the nature of their food; and their flesh frequently contracts a rank unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong marshy aquatic plants, as I suppose.

That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive to the health of birds, seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small.

(Circus cyaneus).

HEN-HARRIER.

A neighbouring gentleman sprung a pheasant in a wheat stubble, and shot at it; when, notwithstanding the report of the gun, it was immediately pursued by the blue hawk, known by the name of the hen-harrier, but escaped into some covert. He then sprung a second, and a third, in the same field, that got away in the same manner; the hawk hovering round him all the while that he was