RING-TAILED HARRIER. 369 



bars of dark grey. The bristle-tipped feathers of the loral 

 space and cere are white at the base, black toward the end. 

 The fore-neck, and anterior part of the breast are greyish-blue, 

 paler than that of the upper parts ; the middle of the breast, 

 the abdomen, and tibial feathers bluish-white ; the lower wing- 

 coverts, the bases of the outer primaries, and the lower tail- 

 coverts are white. 



Length to end of tail 18i inches; extent of wings 39 i ; 

 wing from flexure 13 ; tail 8^ ; bill along the ridge lj\, along 

 the edge of lower mandible l^^^, width of mouth 1 ; tarsus 2j% ; 

 hind toe j%, its claw ^^ ; second toe ^f, its claw ^^| ; third 

 toe 1/^5 its claw ji ; fourth toe ^^, its claw j\. 



Female. — The female is much larger than the male, and 

 differs so much in colour, that until not many years ago she 

 was thought to be of a different species. The plumage also is 

 softer, the ruff more conspicuous, and the feathers on the neck 

 more developed. The oesophagus is five inches long, at the 

 commencement ten-twelfths in width, then dilated into an 

 enormous crop three inches and a quarter in length behind, two 

 inches and ten twelfths in depth, and two inches and a quarter 

 in breadth ; its width is then one inch, and the proventriculus 

 expands to an inch and a half. The stomach is oval, somewhat 

 compressed, two inches long, its tendons five-twelfths in dia- 

 meter. The intestine is thirty-five inches in length, Vvith a 

 width of four-twelfths in the duodenal portion, and of but little 

 more than one-twelfth toward the coeca, which are only one- 

 twelfth in length ; the rectum, at first half an inch in width, 

 enlarges, and is dilated into a globular cloaca an inch and a 

 half in diameter. The fourth quill is one-twelfth longer than 

 the third, which exceeds the second by ten twelfths, and the 

 first is two inches and three-fourths shorter than the latter. 

 The lateral tail-feathers are nearly three-fourths of an inch 

 shorter than the longest. 



The iris is yellowish-brown, but the bill and feet are co- 

 loured as in the male. The general colour of the upper parts 

 is umber-brown, the upper part of the head is deep brown, the 

 feathers slightly edged with light yellowish red ; the anterior 

 VOL. III. n R 



