230 Mr. J. II. Gurncy's Notes on 



the Joanna specimens at Norwich, one has the upper tail- 

 coverts white, but crossed with a bar of slate-coloured spots, 

 and the tail silvery grey, but with traces of five transverse 

 bars of a darker grey — all of which, however, are somewhat 

 imperfect, except the lowest. In the other Joanna specimen 

 the upper tail-coverts are also white, but with two transverse 

 bai*s of slate-colour, the upper one being broken into a row of 

 separate spots, but the lower one continuous ; the tail resem- 

 bles in coloration that of the other examples from the same 

 island, except that the transverse bars are somewhat less in- 

 distinct, and are six in number. With these exceptions the 

 genei-al coloration of these two Joanna specimens resembles 

 that of the type of Circus maillardi from Reunion, as figured 

 in ' The Ibis ' for 1863. Whether these diflferences between 

 the Reunion and Comoro specimens are specific, or are due 

 merely to age or sex, must be determined by subsequent ob- 

 servations ; but in the mean time an additional fact of much 

 interest has occurred since the publication of Mr. Sharpe's 

 catalogue, the British Museum having recently obtained from 

 Madagascar a Harrier which closely resembles in general cha- 

 racter and coloration the Joanna Harriers in the Norwich 

 Museum. This specimen has two transverse bars of brownish 

 slate-colour on the upper tail-coverts, which are otherwise 

 white, the lower bar being continuous, and the upper one 

 nearly so ; the tail is grey, with seven darker bars, the lowest 

 one being the broadest ; the feathers on the head and neck 

 are still edged with brown, which probably denotes the re- 

 mains of immature plumage ; the iris is stated to have been 

 yellow; the wing (straight measure) is 16"9 inches, and the 

 tarsus 3*55 in length. 



It therefore seems probable that the Madagascar race to 

 which this Harrier belongs is identical with that found in 

 Joanna Island ; and a further question arises as to whether 

 the type of Ch'cus macroscelis from Madagascar, w hich is pre- 

 served in the Norwich Museum, is not an immature indivi- 

 dual of the same race in its second or intermediate stage of 

 plumage ? This seems to be possible, as its dimensions are 

 not very dissimilar, and especially as^ on reexamination, it 



