CIRCUS. 333 



Distribution. A migratory bird, found throughout the greater 

 part of India, Ceylon, and Burma in suitable localities from Sep- 

 tember till April, and ranging over Eastern Europe, nearly all 

 Asia and Africa. It has not been observed in Tenasserim nor 

 further south, and it is very rarely seen amongst hills or in forests, 

 but is common on stony plains, grassy or bushy undulating tracts' 

 and on cultivated ground ; it is also found near water. 



Habits, $"c. This and the next three species are usually seen 

 flying slowly over the ground just above the surface, now and 

 then dropping noiselessly on their prey, which consists of lizards 

 and insects, and occasionally of mice and young or sickly 

 birds. Harriers usually sit on the ground, rarely on trees ; 

 and Jerdon notices that they are sometimes surprised and killed 

 at night by foxes and jackals. This Harrier does not breed in 

 India. 



1234. Circus cineraceus. Montagu's Harrier. 



Falco cineraceus, Montagu, Orn. Diet, i, sheet K 2 (1802). 

 Falco cinerareus, Montagu, Trans. Linn. Son. ix, p. 188 (1808). 

 Circus cinerascens, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii, pt. 2, p. 41 (1826) ; Bluth, 



Cat. p. 20; Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xii, p. 105; Horsf. $ M. 



Cat. i, p. 27. 

 Circus cineraceus, Jerdon, B. 1. i, p. 97 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. 



xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 16; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 303; Blyth, Birds 



Burm. p. 61 ; Wardl. Ratnsay, Ibis, 1875, p. 351 ; A. Anderson, 



P. Z. S. 1876, p. 314 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 199 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 249 ; 



Doig, ibid. p. 503 ; Hume, Cat. no. 52 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 12 ; 



Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 43 ; Scully, ibid. p. 421 ; Cripps, S. F. xi, 



p. 13 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 49. 

 Circus pygargus, apud Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 64 ; Oates, B. B. ii, 



p. 173 ; nee Falco pygargus, L. 



Dastmal, Grirgit Mor, Pattai, H. ; Pandouvi, Beng. ; Telia chappa 

 gedda, Pilli gedda, Tel. ; Puna prandu, Tarn. ; Kunda-goya, Ukussa, 

 Cing. 



Coloration. Adult tnale. Upper plumage, sides of head and 

 neck, chin, throat, and breast ashy grey, much darker than in 

 C. macrurus, and more or less tinged, except in very old birds, 

 with brown on the back, scapulars, and tertiaries; upper tail- 

 coverts white, barred or shaded with ashy ; first 5 or 6 primaries 

 black, the tips grey, and the amount of grey gradually increasing 

 on the inner feathers ; secondaries grey above, with a blackish 

 transverse band, beneath white, with grey tips; middle tail- 

 feathers grey, outer white, with transverse rufous and grey bars ; 

 lower parts from breast white, with chestnut shaft-stripes ; 

 axillaries white, with chestnut bars and drops. 



Females resemble those of C. macrurus, but the ruff is very 

 indistinct, the upper parts are rather darker, and the edges of the 

 head- and neck-feathers and of tke wing-coverts more rufous ; the 

 general colour of the lower parts is buff or dull rufous, with 

 rufous-brown shaft-stripes. 



