FALCONING. CIRCUS. 57 



hares, rabbits, mice, frogs, lizards, serpents, and insects. It 

 [ flies with considerable rapidity, but buoyantly. Although 

 nowhere very common, it is generally dispersed. It nestles 

 on the ground, laying from three to five eggs, which are 

 broadly elliptical, of a bluish-white colour, an inch and three- 

 fourths in length, an inch and a third in breadth. Of the 

 young, which resemble the female, the male assumes the 

 adult plumage at the first moult in its second autumn. 



Common Harrier. Hen Harrier. Blue Hawk. Blue Kite. 

 Brown Kite. Blue or Brown Glede. 



Falco cyaneus and pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 126. Male 

 and Female. Falco cyaneus, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 72. 

 Circus cyaneus, Ring- tailed Harrier, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, 

 iii. 366. 



19. ClRCUS CINERACEUS. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 



The wings extending a little beyond the tail ; the third 

 quill much longer than the fourth. Male with the plumage 

 light bluish-grey, the outer primaries black toward the end, 

 the tail-coverts white. Female umber-brown above, pale 

 reddish-yellow, with longitudinal bright red streaks beneath, 

 tail-coverts white. Young similar to the female, but having 

 the lower parts of a uniform bright red. 



Male, 17, .., 15, 1, 2 T * y , 1 T 2 ^, T V. Female, 19, ..., 15^. 



This species, which is said to occur on the continent from 

 Poland southward, has been found in most of the southern 

 and eastern counties of England, but has not hitherto been 

 observed beyond Northumberland. Its habits are similar to 

 those of the common species ; its eggs of the same colour, but 

 smaller. 



Ash-coloured Harrier or Falcon. 



Falco cineraceus, Mont. Ornith. Diet. Falco cineraceus. 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. Circus cineraceus, Montagu's Har- 

 rier, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 378. 



20. CIRCUS ^IRUGINOSUS. MARSH HARRIER. 



Adult umber-brown tinged with grey above, deep reddish- 

 brown beneath, the head, part of the neck, and the shoulders, 

 yellowish-white. In very old individuals, the primary quills 

 and tail-feathers ash-grey. Young deep chocolate, the wing- 

 coverts tipped with brownish-red, the quills and tail-feathers 

 with reddish-white. After the first moult, more or less 

 pale reddish or yellowish- white on the head and neck. In- 

 dividuals differ considerably in colour. Old birds having 



