THE PALE HARRIER. 375 







This Harrier is found in dry plains and does not appear to affect swamps. 

 It lays four to six eggs on the ground, and they are greenish white, 

 occasionally marked with reddish brown. 



553. CIRCUS MACRURUS. 

 THE PALE HARRIER. 



Accipiter macrourus, & G. Gmel. N. Comm. Petrop. xv. p. 439, pis. viii., ix. 

 Circus swainsonii, Smith, 8. Afr. Quart. Journ. i. p. 384 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. 

 p. 96 j Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 298 ; Bl. B. Sunn. p. 61 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. 

 v. p. 441, pi. Circus pallidus, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 80 j Hume, S. F. i. 

 p. 160. Circus macrurus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 67 ; David et Oust. 

 Ois. Chine, p. 28; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 17; Hume, 8. F. viii. p. 82; Oates, 

 S. F. x. p. 180. 



Description. Male. The whole upper plumage grey; the second 

 to the fifth primaries brown on the terminal half; rump whitish barred 

 with grey; central tail-feathers like the upper plumage but paler, the 

 laterals white banded with grey ; chin and throat pale grey ; remainder of 

 the lower surface pure white ; lower tail-coverts white with a few obsolete 

 marks ; forehead and streak above the eye sordid white ; cheeks and ear- 

 coverts striated with grey and pale rufous. 



The female has the upper plumage and wings brown, the latter barred 

 darker ; upper tail-coverts pure white, with a few small marks near the 

 tips ; tail brown, barred with five darker brown bars, becoming paler and 

 rufescent towards the outer feathers ; the whole lower plumage rufous- 

 white, the feathers centred darker. 



In the young the whole lower plumage is ferruginous ; the forehead, 

 crown and nape brown, each feather edged with rufous ; a stripe over and 

 under the eye white ; the cheeks and ear-coverts dark brown mixed with 

 rufous ; the back and scapulars brown ; rump brown, broadly edged with 

 rufous ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail brown, broadly barred with rufous- 

 white ; median wing-coverts pure rufous ; the other coverts brown, edged 

 paler ; wings brown, tipped paler, and all the inner webs broadly barred 

 with rufous-white ; under wing-coverts pale ferruginous, with darker shaft - 

 stripes. 



Iris yellow ; cere and legs yellow ; claws black ; bill black ; gape 

 greenish yellow. 



Length 18 inches, tail 9, wing 13*5, tarsus 2*7, bill from gape 1*1. The 

 female is considerably larger, the wing being nearly 15. The second, third 



1 fourth primaries only emarginated on the outer web, the emargina- 

 tion of the second primary being situated at the tip of the wing-coverts so 

 as to be almost entirely hidden. 



