104 FALCONIDiE. 



the centre of each feather ; under surface of tail-feathers 

 barred with greyish white and brown ; legs, toes, and claws 

 as in the adult male. 



A young male in the plumage of the first year has the 

 head and neck ferruginous, each feather with a central lan- 

 ceolate patch of dark brown ; back and wings umber brown ; 

 wing-coverts with broad ferruginous margins ; primaries 

 brownish black ; secondaries and tertials tipped with rufous ; 

 upper tail-coverts white, tipped with red ; upper surface of 

 the tail-feathers with five bands of dark brown, and four 

 bands of greyish brown ; ear-coverts uniform umber brown ; 

 chin, throat, breast, belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts, 

 uniform reddish brown ; under surface of wings the same ; 

 under surface of tail-feathers dull reddish white, with four 

 or five bands of brownish grey ; legs, toes, and claws, as 

 in older birds. 



The adult female of Montagu's Harrier measures nine- 

 teen inches ; the beak black ; the cere dull yellow ; the 

 irides hazel; crown of the head and nape reddish brown, 

 with darker brown spots ; above and below the eye a streak 

 of dull white ; ear-coverts dark brown ; back and wings dark 

 umber brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts mixed with white 

 and orange brown ; upper surface of the central tail-feathers 

 uniform dark brown ; lateral tail-feathers barred with two 

 shades of brown ; breast, belly, and all the imder surface of 

 the body, light reddish bro'svn, with longitudinal marks of a 

 darker colour ; legs and toes yelloAv ; claws black. In very 

 old females of this species the general colour of the plumage 

 is lighter, and the irides become bright yellow. Young 

 females have the whole of the under parts from the throat 

 to the under tail-coverts of a uniform reddish bay, without 

 any of the darker-coloured streaks observable in adult fe- 

 males. 



Having thus described the last of the British Falconidce, 



