MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 131 
CIRCUS CINERACEUS. 
MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 
(PLATE 6.) 
Accipiter falco torquatus (3), Briss. Orn, i. p. 345 (1760). 
Falco pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766). 
Falco cineraceus, Mont. Orn, Dict. i. (1802); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Temminck, Naumann, (Cuvier), (Gould), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. 
Falco hyemalis, Gmel. apud Penn. Brit, Zool. i. p. 243 (1812). 
Circus cinerarius (Mont.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Se. Brit. Mus. p. 9 (1816). 
Circus ater, Viedll. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. iv. p. 459 (1816). 
Circus montagui, Vell. N. Dict. d Hist. Nat. xxxi. p. 411 (1819). 
Falco cineraceus (Moné.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn. i. p. 76 (1820). 
Circus cinerascens, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 41 (1826). 
Buteo cineraceus (Mont.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 55 (1828). 
Circus cineraceus (Mont.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 338 (1829). 
Circus pratorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 95 (1831). 
Falco cinerascens (Steph.), Barb. Rev. Zool. 1858, p. 221. 
Strigiceps cineraceus (Mont.), Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. §& N. Amer. p. 5 (1838). 
Circus nipalensis, Hodgs. Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844). 
Striziceps cinerascens (Steph.), Bp. Consp. i. p. 33 (1850). 
Circus pygargus * (Linn.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 64 (1874). 
Though formerly a resident in Great Britain, Montagu’s Harrier is now 
only an accidental visitor, occasionally breeding where it is left unmolested. 
It is still rarer in Scotland, and in Ireland has only twice been obtained. 
In France, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Central and Southern 
Russia, Turkestan, and South-western Siberia, as far east as Krasnoyarsk, 
it is a summer visitant. In South Russia a considerable number remain 
during the winter ; in Greece it is only found during the winter; and in 
Italy it is chiefly found at that season ; whilst in Spain it appears to be a 
resident. It passes through North Africa on migration ; but a few are 
found there all the year round. Its chief winter-quarters are the whole cf 
South Africa from the Cape as far north as Abyssinia. The Siberian 
and Turkestan birds appear to winter in India, Ceylon, and Burmat. 
Montagw’s Harrier is a partial resident in our islands like the Marsh and 
Hen-Harriers, but is most frequently seen in summer. Like the Marsh- 
Harrier, it is never seen in the mountains, and hardly ever in the forests ; 
but, unlike that bird, it appears to prefer a dry moor to a swamp, and a corn- 
* It is much to be regretted that Sharpe should have raked up a deservedly forgotten 
name for this bird; but, so long as the law of priority continues in force, uniformity of nomen- 
clature can never be attained. 
T It is a pity that Dresser, Sharpe, and Newton should have copied Swinhoe’s error in 
recording this species from the Yang-tsze kiang, which he himself corrects (‘ Ibis,’ 1874, 
p. 268), 
K2 
