120 MARSH HARRIER. 



brown; under tail coverts, the same, each feather streaked with 

 dark brown. Legs, long and yellow, feathered to within three 

 inches of the foot; toes, long and yellow; claws, black and 

 slender, and not much hooked; the outer and middle ones are 

 united by a membrane, and the latter is somewhat dilated on 

 the inner edge. 



Female; weight, twenty-eight ounces and a half; length, 

 from one foot ten inches to two feet; bill, dusky or bluish 

 black; cere, yellow; iris, yellow; Selby says dark brown; but 

 this must be a young bird. Head, yellowish, sometimes streaked 

 with brown. The neck is surrounded by a ruff of stiff feathers; 

 nape and chin, as in the male; throat, as the head; breast, 

 reddish brown; back, dark brown. The wings expand to the 

 width of four feet five or six inches. Greater and lesser 

 wing coverts, primaries, secondaries, tertiaries, greater and 

 lesser under wing coverts, tail, and tail coverts, legs, toes, 

 and claws, as in the male. 



The young in the first year, formerly described as a separate 

 species by the name of the Moor Buzzard, have the bill bluish 

 black; cere, pale }^ellowish green; iris, dark brown; crown of 

 the head, dark cream-colour. Neck, nape, and chin, brown; 

 throat, yellowish white or light rust-colour; breast and back, 

 dark reddish brown with a metallic tint. Greater wing coverts, 

 sometimes tipped with white; lesser wing coverts, primaries, 

 secondaries, and tertiaries, as the back. Larger and lesser 

 under wing coverts, brown of a lighter shade; tail underneath, 

 pale ash grey; tail coverts, as the back. Legs and toes, pale 

 yellowish green; claws, black. In their second summer the 

 plumage becomes more rufous in some parts, the tail lighter 

 coloured, and on the ruff and the shoulders, and front of the 

 neck, some yellowish white spots shew themselves; and an ash 

 grey gradually spreads itself on the greater wing coverts. In 

 the third year, the back is light rufous brown; the tail pale 

 grey, without any bars, and its under surface, as are the wings 

 underneath the quill feathers, of a silvery white. 



Latham describes a specimen of this bird as of a uniform 

 brown, with a tinge of rust-colour; Montagu one which had 

 the head, some of the wing coverts, and the four first quill 

 feathers, white; Selby one which had the four quill feathers, 

 throat, part of the wing, and the outer tail feathers, white; 

 and the B-ev. Leonard Jenyns one of which the lower half of 

 the breast was white, and others spotted with white in various 

 parts. Some have the upper part of the breast, and others 



