CIRCUS. 215 



on the throat ; the lower parts generally are rufous-brown, faintly streaked 

 darker. 



"For a long time it was supposed that both sexes in this bird were 

 pied and similar, but the true facts were gradually traced out by Mr. 

 Hume. Still one undoubted case is recorded by Mr. Cripps in which a 

 female assumed the pied livery of the adult male, and other probable 

 cases are indicated by the measurements of pied specimens. Length of 

 male, 432; tail, 216; wing, 349; tarsus, 76; length of female, 470; tail, 

 228; wing, 368; tarsus, 81; bill from gape, 30." (Blanford.) 



The adult male of the pied marsh hawk is a very beautiful and graceful 

 bird; the female and young are dull brown and unattractive. This 

 species is fairly abundant in the lowlands where it frequents open country. 



175. CIRCUS /ERUGINOSUS (Linnseus). 

 EUROPEAN MARSH HAWK. 



Falco ceruginosus LINN.EUS, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 91. 



Circus ceruginosus SHAEPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 69; Hand-List 

 (1899), 1, 246; BLANFORD, Fauna Brit. India Bds. (1895), 3, 387; 

 GRANT, Ibis (1895), 438; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 239; MC- 

 GREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 41. 



Cagayan Sulu (Mearns) ; Luzon ( Whitehead ) ; Mindoro (Everett). Temperate 

 Europe and Siberia; in winter to northern Africa, Indian Peninsula, and China. 



"Adult male. Head, neck, and breast buff or pale rufous, with dark 

 brown shaft-stripes, broader on the breast; back and most of the wing- 

 coverts dark brown; scapulars still darker, sometimes gray toward the 

 base ; smallest coverts along the forearm whitish, with dark brown shafts ; 

 outer greater coverts, primary-coverts, and all quills except first six 

 primaries dark silvery gray, remaining coverts and very often the ter- 

 tiaries dark brown ; first six primaries black with the basal portion white ; 

 upper tail-coverts white with rufous and brown mixed in various ways; 

 tail gray above, isabelline below; abdomen and lower tail-coverts fer- 

 ruginous brown, more or less striped darker. 



"Females are dark brown except the crown, nape, chin, and more or 

 less of the throat, which are buff with brown stripes. There is sometimes 

 a patch of buff on the breast, the wing-coverts and back have buff edges, 

 and the upper tail-coverts are rufous. 



"The young of both sexes resemble the female, except that the buff on 

 the head is sometimes unstreaked and more limited in extent, being 

 confined in some cases to a nuchal patch or even wanting altogether. 



" 'Bill black ; cere and base of bill greenish yellow ; iris yellow, brownish 

 yellow in females and young; legs and feet rich yellow.' (Hume.) 



"Length of males, 533; tail, 241; wing, 406; tarsus, 86; length of 

 females, 572; tail, 248; wing, 419; tarsus, 89." (Blanford.) 



