4 ACCIPITEES. 



Zool. Soc, 1875, p. 580; id. Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., vol. i., 

 2nd ser., p. 165 (1888) ; id. Tab. List Austr. Bds., p. 1 (1888); 

 Buller Bds., New Zeal., vol. i, 2nd edit., p. 206 (1888); North, 

 Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., vol. iii, 2nd ser., p. 1773 (1889); id. 

 Nests and Efjgs, Austr. Bds., p. 2, pi. ii, fig. 3 (1889); Broadb., 

 Proc. Boy. Soc, Queensld., vol. v, p. 16 (1889) ; Forbes, Ibis, 

 1893, p. 527 (Chatham Is.) ; Sclater, List Vert. Anim. Zool. Gard., 

 9th ed., p. 381 (1896). 



Circus assimilis, Gould, Bds. Austr., vol. i, pi. 26 (1848) ; Strickl. Orn. 

 Si/n.,]). 155(1855); Cassin, U.S. Expl. Expe.d., p. 101 (1858); 

 Gould, Ilandh. Bds. Austr., \'o\. \, p. 58, sp. 26 (1865); Flnsch 

 and llarll. Fann:Centr. Poly., p. 7 (1867) ; Gray, Hand-list. Bds., 

 vol. i, p. .36 (1869). 



Adult male. " Above earthy brown ; the nape and hind neck 

 slightly streaked with buff, most of the dorsal feathers with 

 central markings of darker brown ; quills brown shaded exter- 

 nally with grey ; the secondaries narrowly tipped with fulvous, all 

 with more or less distinct remains of blackisli, forming on some 

 of the secondaries a distinct subtermiual spot ; upper tail- 

 coverts white, on some of them a slight spot of pale rufous ; tail 

 ashy grey, tipped with white ; the central feathers entirely grey, 

 the exterior one gradually becoming more a.nd more tawny rufous 

 near the base, with a few dark brown mottlings ; frontal and 

 superciliary feathers dull whitish, not very distinct ; sides of 

 face and of neck dull rufous brown, streaked with dark brown ; 

 facial ruff rufous buff, streaked with blackish, and mottled with 

 white; under surface of the body creamy white, with distinct 

 streaks of pale rufous brown along the centre of the feathers, 

 broader on the under wing-coverts and very narrow on the thighs 

 and under tail-coverts ; culmen pale greenish yellow ; bill dark 

 brown, bluish at the base ; tarsi greenish white ; feet yellowish 

 buff ; iris yellow. Total length 2i"5 inches, culmen 1'5, wing 

 16-25, tail 9-8, tarsus 3-9." * 



Progress towards maturitij — ligM-coloured variety. Feathers on 

 Lead and neck darkbrown margined with buffer light rufous, basal 

 portion of the feathers white, which shows conspicuously on nape 

 and hind neck ; throat, chest, and facial ruff buff, each feather 

 on throat narrowly, and those of the chest and ruff broadly 

 centered with a dark brown stripe ; ear-coverts and sides of the 

 head dark brown tinged with rufous buff, a dark line down centre 

 of each feather ; lower portion of hind neck and between 

 shoulders dark brown margined with rufous buff ; scapulars 

 above, back, and rump blackish brown, deeper towards end 

 of each feather ; a few of the scapulars having a narrow margin 

 of buff, and a few of the rump feathers being tipped with rufous ; 



• Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., vol. i, p. 72 (1374). 



