Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 231 



appears that the true measurement of the tarsus (which^ iu 

 the original description, was given as 4 inches) does not in 

 reality exceed 3'85. On the other hand, it must be remem- 

 bered that Mr. Edward Newton, by whom this specimen was 

 shot, pronounced it upon dissection to be a male — a conclusion 

 which is perhaps strengthened by the fact, which he also re- 

 cords, that its irides were yellow [vide Ibis, 1863, p. 358). 



It may be desirable here to observe that Harriers with trans- 

 verse bars on the tail have been obtained in Joanna Island, 

 in Madagascar, and in Reunion, and it seems probable that 

 these bars are indicative of the second or intermediate stage 

 of plumage. The two Joanna specimens in the Norwich Mu- 

 seum both show these bars, as already mentioned, though 

 they seem as if when the birds were killed they were in pro- 

 cess of gi'adually disappearing. A nestling from Madagascar 

 in the Museum at Paris has no bars on the tail ; but the 

 type of C. macroscelis has the upper surface of the tail 

 banded with six transverse bars very distinctly marked. 

 The Harrier from Reunion in the Leyden Museum, from 

 which Mr. Sharpe took his description of the '' young " plu- 

 mage, also the three brown Harriers from the same island 

 in the Norwich Museum, and three similar specimens (one 

 a nestling) in the Museum at Paris, are all destitute of these 

 bands ; but another Reunion specimen at Paris exhibits them 

 in a marked manner ; and as this is evidently an individual 

 in change, and on that account very interesting, I transcribe 

 Dr. Oustalet's description of it. " Plumage brun en dessus, 

 melange de brun sur la poitrine, blanc avec des flammes 

 brunes sur le ventre, queue d^un gi'is brun, roussatre en des- 

 sus, avec six bandes transversales, plus distinctes sur la face 

 superieure que sur la face inferieure des rectrices. Cou- 

 vertures infra-caudales blanches k tige brune, couvertures 

 supra-caudales egalement blanches h, tige brune ''*. 



It is to be hoped that additional specimens and observations 

 will shortly clear up the question of the identity or the reverse 



* It may be worth mentioning, for the sake of comparison, that in the 

 type specimen of C, macroscelis the feathers of the upper tail-coverts are 

 brown, with whitish tips. 



r2 



