( 48 ) 

 HEN HAEEIER. 



CIRCUS CYANEUS SWINHOE. 



Description. — Length for the male 

 eighteen inches, the female twenty 

 inches. Bill black; cere yellow. Legs 

 long and yellow. Iris yellow. 



Head and neck bluish grey. The 

 head surrounded with a ruff of stiff 

 feathers. Upper breast grey, below 

 bluish white. Back grey. Tail white 

 except two central rectrices, which are 

 grey. Under surface of tail with five 

 indistinct darker bars. 



The pale bluish grey throat and 

 breast form a distinguishing mark for 

 the adult male. 



Female is larger. Breast pale brown 

 streaked with dusky in the middle of 

 each feather. Back brown of varying 

 tints. General appearance of this bird 

 is brown, darker above and lighter 

 below, variously streaked and mottled. 



The young resemble the female and 

 are much like the young of the Marsh 

 Harrier (C. seruginosus), but the 1st 

 and 7th primaries are nearly equal in 

 length in the Hen Harrier, while in 

 the Marsh Harrier the 1st is an inch 

 or more longer than the 7th. 



Distribution. — Europe and Asia. 

 Common in China generally. It is a 

 winter visitant in the Yangtse Valley. 



MARSH HARRIER. 



CIRCUS iERUGINOSUS (lINN.) 



Description. — Length twenty to 

 twenty-two inches. 



Bill bluish black ; cere gi'eenish 

 yellow. Legs yellow and very long and 

 Blender, Iris orange yellow. 



