172 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Family FALCONID^. 

 Subfamily ACCIPITRIN^l. 



Genus CIRCUS, Lacep. 



551. CIECUS MELANOLEUCUS. 



THE PIED HARRIER. 



Falco melanoleucus, Forst. Ind. Zool. p. 12, pi. 11. Circus melanoleucus, Jerd. 

 B. Ind. i. p. 99 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 307 ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, pi. x. ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 61 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 225 ; Bl B. Burm. 

 p. 61 j -Hume, S. F. iii. p. 33 j Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 299 ; Hume, 8. F. v. p. 11 ; 

 David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 29 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 21 ; Anders. Yun- 

 nan Exped. p. 572, pis. xlv., xlvi. ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 9 ; Cripps, S. F. vii. 

 p. 250; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 82; Bingham, S. F. viii. p. 191, ix. p. 145; Gates, 

 S. F. x. p. 180. 



Description. Male and female. The whole head and neck, breast, back 

 and scapulars black, a few of the lowermost feathers of the latter grey ; 

 abdomen, sides of the body, vent, under tail-coverts, rump and upper tail- 

 coverts white, the latter with indistinct bars of pale grey ; tail grey tipped 

 with white, and all the feathers, except the central ones, internally 

 margined with the same ; the first six primaries black, tipped with white ; 

 the other primaries and the secondaries silver-grey, broadly margined 

 internally with white ; tertiaries dark brown ; shoulder of wing and lesser 

 wing-coverts white, tinged with grey ; winglet and primary-coverts greyish 

 white ; remainder of the coverts black. 



Immature birds have the head and neck fulvous-brown, with large dark- 

 brown spots; the ear-coverts streaked with brown; the lower plumage 

 fulvous-white, streaked with brown, the streaks increasing in size towards 

 the vent ; upper tail-coverts white, with a few fulvous spots ; quills brown, 

 whitish interiorly and barred with darker brown, the shafts glossy hair- 

 brown ; back and scapulars and wing-coverts dark brown with pale edges ; 

 tail rufous-grey, tipped with white and crossed by five or six dark bands ; 

 some of the feathers of the upper wing-coverts whitish, with rich rufous 

 edges. 



The young bird is very rufous, with dark rufous-brown centres to all 

 the feathers. 



Base of bill bluish, remainder black ; iris bright yellow ; legs orange- 

 yellow ; cere dusky yellow ; claws horn-colour. 



Length 17-5 inches, tail 8-5, wing 13*8, tarsus 3, bill from gape 1*2. 



