MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 129 
of dull white; bristles as in the male. Crown and back of 
the head, reddish brown, edged with a lighter shade; neck, 
brown; nape, brown, edged with yellowish white. Chin and 
throat, light yellowish rufous; breast, light reddish brown, 
streaked with a darker shade. Back, dark brown, the feathers 
margined with ferruginous. Wings, as in the male, in propor- 
tion; greater and lesser wing coverts, as the back; primaries, 
secondaries, and tertiaries, dusky; greater and lesser under 
wing coverts, brown. ‘Tail, dark brown on the centre feathers, 
the side ones barred with two shades of reddish brown, except 
the outer, which are barred with reddish brown and white. 
Tail coverts, brown, mixed with a little white. Legs and 
toes, yellow; claws, black. In advanced age the whole 
plumage becomes lighter. * 
The young male in the first year has the head and neck 
ferruginous, each feather streaked with dark brown; chin, 
throat, and breast, uniform reddish brown. In the young 
female the breast is without the streaks; back, dark brown, (in 
my specimen nearly all the feathers are margined with light 
rufous;) greater and lesser wing coverts, the same, margined 
with ferruginous; wings underneath, as the breast; primaries, 
secondaries, and tertiaries, dull black; both the latter tipped 
with rufous. Tail, with five bands of dark and four of 
greyish brown; underneath, dull reddish white, with four or 
five bands of brownish grey; tail coverts, white tipped with 
rufous; under tail coverts, as the breast. In the next stage 
the head is brown and rufous; chin and throat, light grey; 
breast, white. Greater wing coverts, dark brown; lesser wing 
coverts, lighter brown, varied with rufous and grey; primaries 
and secondaries, blackish brown. ‘Tail, except the two middle 
feathers, barred with brown and rufous; the middle ones have 
the outer webs light grey; the inner grey, with five dark 
brown bands; underneath it is barred with greyish white and 
brown. Under tail coverts, white, with a rufous streak on 
the centre of each feather. 
These birds vary extremely in plumage, the males occurring 
in every stage of gradation from the garb of the female to 
their own perfect hue; some even vary on different sides. I 
have seen two in the collection of Mr. Chaffey, of Dodington, 
Kent, and have heard of another, of a uniform dark colour, 
almost black. A fourth, a similar variety, is described in the 
‘Loologist,’ as having the nape irregularly marked with white. 
VOL. I. K 
