Montagu's harrier. 103 



marshes of Holland, It inhabits Provence, Dalmatia, Italy, 

 and on the same parallel as far east as Trebizond. By some 

 authors the range of this species has been extended to India 

 and Africa. 



The length of the adult male is about seventeen inches. 

 The beak is nearly black ; the cere greenish yellow, and 

 partly hid by the radiating hairs of the lore; the irides bright 

 yellow ; the head, the whole of the neck, back, wing-coverts, 

 secondaries, and tertials, bluish grey ; the secondaries with 

 three dark bars across, the last of which is visible externally 

 when the wing is closed ; the primaries almost black ; upper 

 surface of the central tail-feathers bluish grey ; the lateral 

 tail-feathers white, barred with reddish orange ; breast, belly, 

 and under tail-coverts, white, with various longitudinal 

 streaks of reddish orange ; under wing-coverts barred with 

 reddish brown ; under surface of tail-feathers dull white, 

 barred with dusky grey ; legs and toes slender and yellow ; 

 the claws blach. 



A young male in my own collection, from which the 

 figure was taken, killed while undergoing his second moult, 

 and in a gradual state of change, has the top of the head 

 and the feathers round the cheeks a mixture of brown and 

 rufous ; ear-coverts grey ; occiput varied with white ; the 

 nape, back, scapulars, tertials, and upper tail-coverts, lead 

 grey ; upper surface of all the tail-feathers, except the two in 

 the middle, barred with two shades of brown and rufous ; 

 middle tail-feathers with the outer webs uniform pearl grey ; 

 the inner webs with five dark brown bands on a greyish 

 ground ; wing-primaries and secondaries blackish brown ; 

 great wing-coverts dark brown ; lesser wing-coverts lighter 

 brown varied with rufous, and two or three grey feathers ; 

 chin, and front of neck, pearl grey ; breast, belly, thighs, and 

 under tail-coverts, Avhite, with a longitudinal rufous stripe on 



