for the mastery of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Abubekr’s successor was Mahommed III., Ahmed ibn Ibrahim el-Ghazi (1507–1543), surnamed Gran (Granyé), the left-handed. He was not an Arab but, probably, of Somali origin. The son of a noted warrior, he quickly rose to supreme power, becoming sultan or amir in 1525. He is famous for his invasion of Abyssinia, of which country he was virtual master for several years. From the beginning of the 17th century Adel suffered greatly from the ravages of pagan Galla tribes, and Harrar sank to the position of an amirate of little importance. It was first visited by a European in 1854 when (Sir) Richard Burton spent ten days there in the guise of an Arab. In 1875 Harrar was occupied by an Egyptian force under Raouf Pasha, by whose orders the amir was strangled. The town remained in the possession of Egypt until 1885, when the garrison was withdrawn in consequence of the rising of the Mahdi in the Sudan. The Egyptian garrison and many Egyptian civilians, in all 6500 persons, left Harrar between November 1884 and the 25th of April 1885, when a son of the ruler who had been deposed by Egypt was installed as amir, the arrangement being carried out under the superintendence of British officers. The new amir held power until January 1887, in which month Harrar was conquered by Menelek II., king of Shoa (afterwards emperor of Abyssinia). The governorship of Harrar was by Menelek entrusted to Ras Makonnen, who held the post until his death in 1906.
The Harrari proper are of a distinct stock from the neighbouring peoples, and speak a special language. Harrarese is “a Semitic graft inserted into an indigenous stock” (Sir R. Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa). The Harrari are Mahommedans of the Shafa’i or Persian sect, and they employ the solar year and the Persian calendar. Besides the native population there are in Harrar colonies of Abyssinians, Somalis and Gallas. By the Somalis the place is called Adari, by the Gallas Adaray.
See Abyssinia; Somaliland. Also P. Paulitschke, Harar: Forschungsreise nach den Somâl- und Galla-Ländern Ost-Afrikas (Leipzig, 1888).
HARRATIN, black Berbers, dwelling in Tidikelt and other
Saharan oases. Many of them are blacker than the average
negro. In physique, however, they are true to the Berber type,
being of handsome appearance with European features and well-proportioned
bodies. They are the result of an early crossing
with the Sudanese negro races, though to-day they have all the
pride of the Berbers (q.v.), and do not live with or intermarry
among negroes.
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.
One European species, C. aeruginosus, though called in books the marsh-harrier, is far more commonly known in England and Ireland as the moor-buzzard. But harriers are not, like buzzards, arboreal in their habits, and always affect open country, generally, though not invariably, preferring marshy or fenny districts, for snakes and frogs form a great part of their ordinary food. On the ground their carriage is utterly unlike that of a buzzard, and their long wings and legs render it easy to distinguish the two groups when taken in the hand. All the species also have a more or less well-developed ruff or frill of small thickset feathers surrounding the lower part of the head, nearly like that seen in owls, and accordingly many systematists consider that the genus Circus, though undoubtedly belonging to the Falconidae, connects that family with the Striges. No osteological affinity, however, can be established between the harriers and any section of the owls, and the superficial resemblance will have to be explained in some other way. Harriers are found almost all over the world,[1] and fifteen species are recognized by Bowdler Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. Museum, i. pp. 50-73). In most if not all the harriers the sexes differ greatly in colour, so much so that for a long while the males and females of one of the commonest and best known, the C. cyaneus above mentioned, were thought to be distinct species, and were or still are called in various European languages by different names. The error was maintained with the greater persistency since the young males, far more abundant than the adults, wear much the same plumage as their mother, and it was not until after Montagu’s observations were published at the beginning of the 19th century that the “ringtail,” as she was called (the Falco pygargus of Linnaeus), was generally admitted to be the female of the “hen-harrier.” But this was not Montagu’s only good service as regards this genus. He proved the hitherto unexpected existence of a second species,[2] subject to the same diversity of plumage. This was called by him the ash-coloured falcon, but it now generally bears his name, and is known as Montagu’s harrier, C. cineraceus. 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. In the south-east of Europe, reaching also to the Cape of Good Hope and to India, there is a fourth species, the C. swainsoni of some writers, the C. pallidus of others. In North America C. cyaneus is represented by a kindred form, C. hudsonius, usually regarded as a good species, the adult male of which is always to be recognized by its rufous markings beneath, in which character it rather resembles C. cineraceus, but it has not the long wings of that species. South America has in C. cinereus another representative form, while China, India and Australia possess more of this type. Thus there is a section in which the males have a strongly contrasted black and grey plumage, and finally there is a group of larger forms allied to the European C. aeruginosus, wherein a grey dress is less often attained, of which the South African C. ranivorus and the New Zealand C. gouldi are examples. (A. N.)
 |
| Hen-Harrier (Male and Female). |
HARRIGAN, EDWARD (1845– ), American actor, was
born in New York of Irish parents on the 26th of October 1845.
He made his first appearance in San Francisco in 1867, and soon
afterwards formed a stage partnership with Tony Hart, whose
real name was Anthony Cannon. As “Harrigan and Hart,” they
had a great success in the presentation of types of low life in New
York. Beginning as simple sketches, these were gradually
worked up into plays, with occasional songs, set to popular music
- ↑ The distribution of the different species is rather curious, while the range of some is exceedingly wide,—one, C. maillardi, seems to be limited to the island of Réunion (Bourbon).
- ↑ A singular mistake, which has been productive of further error, was made by Albin, who drew his figure (Hist. Birds, ii. pi. 5) from a specimen of one species, and coloured it from a specimen of the other.
