MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 217 



rier, but the cervical rufFis very indistinct. The wings 

 are very long, and extend a little beyond the tail ; the 

 third primary is longest, and exceeds the second and 

 third by nearly an inch, the first is a little longer than 

 the fifth ; the primaries are straight, tapering, and 

 rounded ; the secondaries short, broad, obliquely round- 

 ed, and slightly emarginate. 



The bill is black, the cere greenish -yellow; the iris 

 yellow, as are the feet ; the claws black. The general 

 colour of the plumage above is light greyish-blue, the 

 scapulars tinged with brown ; the bases of the occipital 

 feathers white ; the bristles of the cere and lores black, 

 theii' downy bases white. There are two transverse 

 brownish-black bands on the secondary quills, but only 

 one of them appears when the wings are closed ; the 

 seven outer primaries are more or less black, the outer 

 entirely so, the seventh only tinged with that colour on 

 the outer web ; their tips grey. The tail has four broad 

 bands of dark grey, changing to brownish-red on the 

 outer webs. The fore neck and anterior part of the 

 breast is bluish-grey like the back ; the rest of the 

 breast, the sides, and the lower tail-coverts, are white, 

 each feather with a longitudinal central bright red 

 mark ; the smaller lower wing-coverts similar. 



Length to end of tail 17 inches, to end of wings 17i ; 

 wing from flexure 15; tail 9i ; bill along the ridge 1 ; 

 tarsus 2j^5 ; first toe i, its claw -^^\ second toe /^, its 

 claw II ; third toe lj%, its claw /^ ; fourth toe 1, its 

 claw 1%. 



The above description is from a specimen in the 

 Museum of the University of Edinburgh. The follow- 

 ing is that taken by Montagu from a specimen killed 



