110 FALCONID^E. 



Montagu's Harrier is found in Poland, Germany, and 

 France. M. Baillon found it in the marshes of Abbeville, 

 and considered it a summer visitor, appearing in April and 

 departing in October. M. Temminck says it is very com- 

 mon in the marshes of Holland. It inhabits Provence, 

 Dalmatia, Italy, Sicily, Malta, and on the same parallel 

 as far east as Trebizond. Mr. Blyth has found this spe- 

 cies in India. 



The length of the adult male is about seventeen inches. 

 The beak is nearly black ; the cere greenish yellow, and 

 partly hid by the radiating hairs of the lore ; the irides 

 bright yellow ; the head, the whole of the neck, back, 

 wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertials, bluish grey ; the 

 secondaries with three dark bars across, the last of which 

 is visible externally when the wing is closed ; the primaries 

 almost black ; upper surface of the central tail-feathers 

 bluish grey ; the lateral tail-feathers white, barred with 

 reddish orange ; breast, belly, and under tail-coverts, white 

 with various longitudinal streaks of reddish orange : under 

 wing-coverts barred with reddish brown ; under surface of 

 tail-feathers dull white, barred with dusky grey ; legs and 

 toes slender and yellow ; the claws black. 



A young male in my own collection, from which the 

 figure was taken, killed while undergoing his second moult, 

 and in a gradual state of change, has the top of the head 

 and the feathers round the cheeks a mixture of brown and 

 rufous, ear-coverts grey ; occiput varied with white ; the 

 nape, back, scapulars, tertials, and upper tail-coverts, lead 

 grey ; upper surface of all the tail-feathers, except the two 

 in the middle, barred with two shades of brown and 

 rufous ; middle tail-feathers, with the outer webs uniform 

 pearl grey ; the inner webs with five dark brown bands on 

 a greyish ground ; wing-primaries and secondaries blackish 



