118 FALCONID^. 



A young male in the plumage of the first year has the 

 head and neck ferruginous, each feather with a central 

 lanceolate patch of dark brown ; back and wings umber 

 brown ; wing-coverts with broad ferruginous margins ; 

 primaries brownish black ; secondaries and tertials tipped 

 with rufous: upper tail-coverts white, tipped with red; 

 upper surface of the tail-feathers with five bands of dark 

 brown, and four bands of greyish brown ; ear-coverts uni- 

 form umber brown; chin, throat, breast, belly, thighs, 

 and under tail-coverts, uniform reddish brown ; under sur- 

 face of wings the same; under surface of tail-feathers 

 dull reddish white, with four or five bands of brownish 

 grey ; legs, toes, and claws, as in older birds. 



The adult female of Montagu's Harrier measures nine- 

 teen inches ; the wing fifteen ; the beak black ; the cere 

 dull yellow ; the irides hazel ; crown of the head and 

 nape reddish brown, with darker brown spots ; above and 

 below the eye a streak of dull white ; ear-coverts dark 

 brown; back and wings dark umber brown; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts mixed with wlute and orange brown ; 

 upper surface of the central tail-feathers uniform dark 

 brown; lateral tail-feathers barred with two shades of 

 brown ; breast, belly, and all the under surface of the 

 body, light reddish brown, with longitudinal marks of a 

 darker colour ; legs and toes yellow ; claws black. In 

 very old females of this species the general colour of the 

 plumage is lighter and the irides become bright yellow. 

 Young females have the whole of the under parts from the 

 throat to the under tail-coverts of a uniform reddish bay, 

 without any of the darker-coloured streaks observable in 

 adult females. 



Having thus described the last of the British Falcomda, 

 it may be desirable, before quitting this group, to exhibit 

 a representation of the breast-bone, or sternum, of one 



