358 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
Circus MACRURUS (Blanford, Vol. IIT., p. 381 ; 
Legge, p. 17). 
The Pale Harrier. 
Description.—Male: Upper surface pale bluish-gray ; 
except in very old birds, the nape and mantle are tinged with 
brown ; lores and all round the eye white ; ear coverts pale 
gray, streaked with white; primaries ash-gray, s3cond to 
sixth quills blackish-brown towards the ends, the bases of all 
the quills white ; upper tail coverts darker gray barred with 
white ; central tail feathers gray, outer feathers white with 
irregular gray bars. Lower parts white, with a gray tinge on 
throat, neck, and breast. 
Female : Upper surface brown ; feathers of head and hind- 
neck with pale rufous margins; forehead, eyebrow, and a 
patch below the eye buffy-white ; ear coverts and a broad 
moustache-stripe brown ; a well-marked ruff of white, or buff, 
with brown shaft-stripes runs right round the neck ; smaller 
wing coverts with tawny edges; wing quills smoke-brown 
above, whitish underneath, with ends and broad bars of 
black-brown ; upper tail coverts white, with brown shaft- 
stripes ; central tail feathers smoke-brown, outer feathers 
tawny, all with dark brown bands. Lower parts white with 
rufous shaft-stripes which are broadest on the breast. In old 
birds these stripes become very narrow. 
Young birds resemble females in their upper plumage, but 
the feathers have tawny margins, the ruff is pale tawny all 
round the neck and stands out very conspicuously. The 
upper tail coverts are white and the lower parts buff with 
faint shaft-stripes. The adult plumage is assumed gradually. 
Bill blue-black ; cere greenish-yellow ; iris yellow in adults, 
brown in young ; legs yellow. 
Males: length 18; wing 13°5; tail 9°25; tarsus 2°7; 
mid-toe without claw 1°25: bill from gape 1°10. 
Females rather larger : length 19°5 ; wing 14:5. 
Distribution.—Fairly common throughout the Island during 
the north-east monsoon. A few stray and probably im- 
mature specimens remain with us all the year round, chiefly 
