224 Mr, J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



Birds ' (vol. i. p. 50) of two individuals^ which were reared 

 from the same nest^ of which one had the upper portion of 

 the head " bright luteous/' whilst in the other it was a " dark 

 chocolate-colour.'^ 



The rufous mottlings on the tails of immature specimens, 

 to which Mr. Sharpe alludes, docs not extend (so far as I have 

 observed) to the two central rectrices, but is more or less pre- 

 sent in all the others, and in some young males assumes the 

 character of irregular transverse bars. In other immature 

 males, but more advanced towards the adult stage, and in 

 which these rufous markings have disappeared and the whole 

 tail has become grey, it is crossed by a band of darker grey, 

 about half an inch in breadth, and about that space from the 

 extremity of the tail, which extends across all the rectrices. 



The ordinary plumage of the adult female only differs from 

 the normal immature dress of both sexes in the broader shaft- 

 markings on the head, to which I have already alluded ; these, 

 however, in many female specimens, are less conspicuous than 

 in the adult males. The British Museum possesses an ex- 

 ample which, by its measurements, appears to be a female, 

 but which, in the tinge of grey on its wings and tail, as well 

 as in the general character of its plumage, somewhat resem- 

 bles the adult male, though much less brightly rufous and 

 fulvescent in its general coloration. 



This is the only instance that I recollect to have personally 

 met with of a female of the Marsh- Harrier assimilating in 

 plumage to the adult male^. 



The island of Ceylon may be added to the localities 



* In an interesting paper by Professor Blasius on the European Har- 

 riers, published in the ' Naumannia ' for 1857 (p. 307), the following ob- 

 servations occur respecting the old females of Circus ceruginosus : — " The 

 large upper coverts at the edge of the wing and the quill-feathers exter- 

 nally are tinted ash-grey .... the tail-feathers reddish grey .... In the 

 intensity of the ash-grey colouring of the upper wing, of the markings of 

 the tail, and of the whole colouring, various distinctions present them- 

 selves, and also approach to those males whose colours are not very fully 

 developed .... The plumage of the old females shows no sharp contrasts ; 

 still less have I seen a female of the decided colouring of the old male ; yet 

 it has been asserted that the old females become cock-feathered." 



