16. CIRCUS. 57 



Circus histrionicus, King, Zool. Joum. iii. p. 425 (1827). 



Circus poliopterus, Cab. ^ Tsc/i. F. P. Aves, p. 113, Taf. 3 (1845) ; 



Schl. Mtis. P.-B. Circi, p. 6 (1862). 

 Strigiceps histrionicus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 3o (1850). 

 Spiziacircus histrionicus, Kaup, Coiitr. Oni. 1850, p. 59. 



Young. Above dark brown, the head and neck streaked and the 

 wing-coverts broadly margined with tawny buflF, the scapulars and 

 greater coverts having concealed spots of the same; upper tail- 

 coverts white, some of them slightly washed with pale rufous near 

 the tip ; quills dark brown tipped with fulvous, the primaries ex- 

 ternally shaded with ashy grey, barred on both webs with darker 

 brown, more distinctly underneath, where the feathers are whitish 

 tinged with rufous on inner web ; tail pale tawny tipped with buif, 

 excepting the two centre feathers, which are ashy grey, the latter 

 with five, and the rest with four black bands, the subterminal one 

 being the broadest ; lores whitish ; cheeks and ear-coverts deep 

 rufous, slightly streaked with dark brown ; facial ruff fulvous with 

 narrow dark brown streaks ; rest of under surface pale tawny ful- 

 vous, inclining to creamy buff on abdomen, the chest broadly, the 

 rest of the body narrowly streaked with dark brown ; under wing- 

 coverts buff, streaked with deep rufous ; axillaries rufous brown, 

 with large spots of creamy buff on both webs. 



Adult male. Entire upper surface, including the sides of the face 

 and of the neck as well as the throat and fore neck, bluish ash- 

 colour, the wing-coverts with obsolete white margins, and the fore 

 neck crossed with a few broad white bars ; primaries blackish, ex- 

 ternally washed with ashy grey ; the secondaries entirely ashy grey, 

 like the back, with naiTow white tips to the feathers, before which 

 runs a distinct subterminal bar of blackish brown ; upper tail- 

 coverts white ; tail ashy grey tipped with white, before which is a 

 broad subtenninal bar of dark ash-colour, all the feathers but the 

 two central ones shaded with brownish, and inclining to white on 

 the inner web, and marked with two or three Ul-defined blackish 

 bars washed with rufous on the outermost feather ; under surface 

 of body numerously crossed with distinct bars of orange tawny and 

 white ; under wing-coverts white, as also the inner lining of the 

 quills ; under surface of tail pure white, with faint indications of 

 bars on the inner web, the subterminal one alone being very 

 distinct. Total length 18 inches, culmen 1-2, wing 12-2, tail 8-25, 

 tarsus 2"8. 



Adult female. Larger than male, and somewhat differently 

 coloured. Above brown, the feathers of the crown slightly streaked 

 with rufous, the hind neck with white, outer wing-coverts tipped 

 with white, the smallest with fulvous ; scapiilars, wing-coverts, and 

 quills ashy grey barred across with brown, the subterminal bar very 

 broad and distinct, showing more clearly on the primaries, which 

 are of a clearer ash-colour; upper tail-coverts white, with pale 

 reddish bars and subterminal spots ; centre tail-feathers ashy grey 

 tipped with whity brown> and having five blackish cross bands ; the 

 rest of the feathers huffy, more or less shaded with ashj', externally 



