Gould regretted that much of the Marsh Harrier's habitat was disappearing. 'In Britain it [the Marsh Harrier] was always more abundant in Suffolk, Cambridgshire, Norfolk, Huntingdon, and Lincolnshire than elsewhere, but the draining process, which has converted our fens and rush-beds into fields of waving oats, has sadly interfered...a death-blow to the Marsh-Harrier was the consequence.'

Many variations occur in the colouring of the young harriers until maturity. This watercolour shows an adult male (rusty with silver-grey wings) with a young bird squatting behind. Another version (lot 23) shows two adult females (chocolate-brown with cream crown) fighting over a snake.

DISTRIBUTION: Breeding distribution is western and central Palaearctic from British Isles east to Mongolia and west China and south to northwest Africa, through to the Middle East. Winters south to central and southeast Africa, and in east south through to south Asia, southeast China, and Greater Sunda Island. In Britain became extinct in the nineteenth century, recolonised in 1911 and slow recovery since