124 BRITISH BIRDS. 
CIRCUS ARUGINOSUS. 
MARSH-HARRIER. 
(PLate 6.) 
Accipiter circus palustris, Briss. Orn. i. p. 401 (1760). 
Accipiter circus rufus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 404 (1760). 
Falco zruginosus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— 
(Gray), (Bonaparte), (Jerdon), (Newton), (Sundevall), (Sharpe), &c. 
Falco rufus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 266 (1788). 
Falco arundinaceus, Bechst, Orn. Taschenb. p. 23 (1802). 
Circus seruginosus (Linn.), Savign. Syst. Ois. de l’ Egypte, p. 30 (1810), 
Circus rufus (G'mel.), Savign. tom. cit. p. 31 (1810). 
Accipiter xruginosus (Linn.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 119 (1816). 
Accipiter circus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 362 (1826), 
Buteo eeruginosus (Linn.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 55 (1828). 
Circus arundinaceus (Bechst.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 91 (1831). 
Buteo rufus (Gmel.), Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 88 (1835). 
Circus umbrinus, Heugl. Syst. Uebers. Vig. N.O.-Afr. p. 12 (1856). 
The Marsh-Harrier has not yet been quite exterminated from the 
British Islands. It still breeds in the Norfolk broads and in Devonshire, 
and occasionally escapes the gamekeeper’s gun in other parts of the king- 
dom. In Scotland it is still more local, being chiefly found in the central 
counties, Aberdeenshire, and the Western Isles. In Ireland it was for- 
merly very abundant, but is now said to have become very local. 
It breeds in swampy districts throughout Europe south of the Baltic, 
occurring rarely in South Sweden, and only visiting Norway accidentally. 
It winters in Africa north of the equator, occasionally wandering as far 
south as the Transvaal. In Greece, Palestine, Persia, and also in Algeria 
and Tangiers the winter range overlaps that of the breeding-season, and 
the bird is to be found all the year round. LEastwards it breeds in the 
upper valley of the Obb and in Turkestan, and winters in India and Ceylon. 
It is said occasionally to breed in India. No Marsh-Harrier has yet been 
obtained from the valley of the Yenesay; but from Lake Baikal eastwards 
to Japan and China an allied form occurs, C. spilonotus, with the whole 
of the underparts pure white, except the throat and breast, which are 
longitudinally streaked with black. The female differs from the female 
of our bird by having the tail transversely barred. If the latter character 
be reliable, then either-our bird turns up again in Japan and China or 
occasionally wanders there, as females without bars on the tail have 
occurred in both those countries. The more probable explanation is 
that old females of the eastern form lose the bars on the tail. This 
eastern representative of the Marsh-Harrier breeds in Siberia from Lake 
