CIRCUS iERUGINOSUS. 33 
common as the Marsh-Harrier^ being seen during passage on 
all sides in pairs. They nest on the ground, laying five eggs, 
which vary much in shape, the colour being bluish white, 
marked with spots of clear blue, which, after the egg is blown, 
turn yellowish/' — Favier. 
Near Gibraltar, Montagu's Harrier is not often met with ; 
near Seville they are very common, and dark specimens, some 
of them complete melanisms, are frequently procured. Near 
Lixus, in Morocco, at the end of April, I found a regular 
colony : there must have been fifteen or twenty pair on a salt 
marsh across the river. I had no time to go round and examine 
the ground, and could not cross the river at that place ; but 
we could see with my telescope the hen birds sitting dotted 
about the marsh. The males took a particular line across our 
side of the river ; so I shot three for identification. 
The adult males are to be distinguished by the dusky black 
bars on the secondaries. It is likewise a smaller species 
than C. macrurus ; and the wings are longer in proportion 
to the body than in other European Harriers. 
6. Circus macrurus (Gm.). Pale-chested Harrier. 
Favier states that this species occurs on passage in the en- 
virons of Tangier in April. In the Norwich Museum there is 
a specimen labelled " Tangier.'^ 
On the Spanish side it is not uncommon in spring near 
Seville. Lord Lilford was the first to obtain it, in the spring 
of 1872. 
It is a rather smaller bird than C. cyaneus, and is more 
affined to C. pygargus ; the male is easily distinguishable by 
the white rump or upper tail-coverts being marked with grey 
spots ; these markings, in a less degree, are always also visible 
in the females. 
7. Circus jEruginosus, Linn. The Marsh-Harrier. 
Moorish. Hedia {Favier). Spanish. Aguilucho, Rapina. 
" The most common of the Harriers in Morocco, this bird 
is both resident and migratory in the vicinity of Tangier. 
Those which migrate, pass to Europe in February and March, 
D 
