CIRCUS. 385 



and generally by having the 4th primary longest, and the 2nd 

 shorter than the 5th. 



Bill black ; cere yellow ; iris yellow, brown in the young, and 

 according to some observers in females ; legs and feet yellow. 



Length of male about 18 inches ; tail 9 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 275 : 

 length of female 21 ; tail 1O5 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 3. 



Distribution. Europe, Northern and Central Asia, and Northern 

 Africa. In India this species is fairly common in the Himalayas 

 and in winter along their base, a few stragglers being found in 

 Northern India as far south as the Central Provinces at that season. 



Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of the last two Harriers. This 

 species is not known to breed in the Himalayas, but has been 

 observed to do so at Tso Morari in Tibet. 



1236. Circus melanoleucus. The Pied Harrier. 



Falco melanoleucus, Forster, 2nd. Zool. p. 12, pi. ii (1781). 

 Circus melanoleucus, Bli/th, Cat. p. 21 ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. i, p. 26 ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 93 ; iii, p. 870 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 246; King, 

 J. A. S. B. xxx vii, pt. 2, p. 213 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xxxviii, p. 167 ; 

 Hume, J. A. S. B. xxxix, p. 114 ; id. Rough Notes, p. 307 ; Godw.- 

 Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, p. 266 ; xlv, p. 67 ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, 

 p. 341 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 61 ; Hume, S. F. iii, p. 33; v, 

 p. 11 ; vii, p. 34; xi, p. 13 ; id. Cat. no. 53 ; Blyth $ Wold. Birds 

 Burm. p. 61; Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 225; 1876, p. 130; A. An- 

 derson, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 315 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 299 ; Hume 

 fy Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 21, 497 ; Anderson, Yunnan JExped., Aves, 

 p. 572, pis. xlv, xlvi; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 199; Cripps, S. F. vii, 

 p. 250 ; x, p. 327 ; xi, p. 13 ; Bingham, S. F. viii, p. 191 ; ix, 

 p. 145 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 226 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 9 ; Reid r 

 S. F. x, p. 11'; Davison, S. F. x, p. 339 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 172; 

 Salvadoriy Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) vii, pp. 375, 428. 

 Pahatai, II. ; Ablak Petaha, Nepal; Thane-Kya, Burmese. 



Coloration. Adult male. Head and neck all round, breast, back, 

 median upper wing-coverts, and a band from them to the bend of 

 the wing, with the first six primaries, glossy black ; a nuchal patch 

 where the white bases of the feathers show; scapulars partly 

 black, partly grey ; smaller wing-coverts white, larger coverts, 

 later primaries, and secondaries silver-grey, the latter tipped and 

 bordered inside with white, tertiaries black ; rump white ; upper 

 tail-coverts white, with broad lunate grey bands ; tail grey, white 

 at the tips and inner edges of the outer feathers ; lower parts 

 from the breast pure white. 



Adult female. Above dark brown, the feathers of the crown and 

 neck with rufous edges, those of the nape broadly bordered with 

 white ; a well-marked ruff of small white or buffy-white feathers 

 with brown shaft-stripes ; around eyes whitish ; cheeks and ear- 

 coverts dirty white or pale rufous with brown streaks ; smaller 

 coverts along the forearm white (in younger birds rufous) with 

 blackish-brown shaft-stripes, median coverts brown with grey or- 

 white spots and bars, larger coverts dusky grey with a broad 

 subterminal blackish band and another near the base ; primaries- 



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