MILVINZ. 53 
Legs and feet rich yellow, dingy or pale greenish-yellow in the 
young; the claws brownish-black; the irides are orange-yellow, 
sometimes with a pink tinge, deep brown, or brownish-yellow in 
the young ; the bill is blackish or brownish-black, yellowish at the 
base, and bluish there in the young; the cere is greenish-yellow, 
or sometimes pale-greenish, in the young. 
The young bird is uniform dark reddish umber-brown ; in a 
further stage the head and throat are yellowish, or rufous-white, 
with dark stipes on the crown; in some the head is pure white, 
and the upper tail-coverts and base of the outer tail-feathers 
are pale reddish. 
In the fully adult the head, neck, and breast are pale rufous, with 
dark brown stripes, deepening to dark red-brown on the belly 
and thigh-coverts ; upper tail-coverts marked with red, white, and 
brown ; the shoulders, secondaries, and tail pure silvery-grey ; 
back, scapulars and tertiaries deep brown; primaries black. 
To this Mr. Hume adds that, asthe young bird advances to- 
wards maturity, there first appears a large rufous-fawn, or rufous- 
white patch upon the breast ; then the rufous, or yellowish-white 
of the head and nape begins to run down the back of the neck, 
and margins of a similar color begin to make their appearance 
on the feathers of the upper back and the smaller wing-coverts ; 
the color of the upper parts slightly fades, and a greyish tinge 
begins to overspread the outer webs of the primaries. 
It is probable that the adult plumage, in which the shoulders, 
secondaries, and tail are silver grey, is only assumed by the 
male. 
The Marsh Harrier is generally spread throughout the district, 
and (although a few may possibly remain to breed) is a cold 
weather visitant only. It frequents marshes, rivers, and lakes, 
and feeds chiefly on frogs, rats, and water insects. 
It often carries off wounded duck and teal. 
It seems instinctively to know sportsmen, and not infrequently 
follows them round a tank or jheel, with a view to dinner. I 
have often, by their help, retrieved wounded birds that would 
otherwise have been lost to me. 
Sus-Framity, Milvinee. 
Bill typically small and weak, occasionally stout, rather straight 
at the base, and suddenly hooked, or curved from the base, 
and much hooked at the tip, rounded at the sides and compress- 
ed only at the tip; the margin sinuated or toothed ; wings long ; 
tail short and even, or long and forked ; tarsi short, rather thick ; 
toes short, broad; claws moderate, not very unequal. 
Genus, Haliastur, Selby. 
Bill rather stout, straight over the cere, curved and hooked 
beyond margin of the upper mandible, festooned (as is very 
prominently seen in young birds) ; nostrils oval, oblique; wings 
