I 



HARRIERS. 245 



of the plumage is bluish grey above, with the throat and chest nearly similar ; 

 while the rest of the under-parts, inclusive of the thighs as well as the upper 

 tail-coverts, are pure white. On the upper surface of the tail the two middle 

 pairs of feathers are uniform grey, and the others more or less indistinctly 

 barred. On the other hand, in the female, or ringtail, as shown in the left lower 

 figure of our Plate, the prevailing hue of the upper-parts is brown, and the head is 

 surrounded by a distinct ruff of mingled white and brown feathers ; many of the 

 feathers, especially the wing-coverts, having lighter margins. Below, the ground- 

 colour is reddish buff, each feather having a larger or smaller dark brown central 

 mark, and a still darker shaft. The tail is greyish brown, tipped with white, and 

 all the feathers banded with darker brown. In both sexes the legs and toes are 

 yellow, with black claws ; but the cere is a more greenish yellow in the female 

 than in the male. The young male resembles the female in colour, but may be 

 distinguished by its relatively shorter wing. In length the male measures about 

 21, and the female 22 inches. This harrier is found throughout Europe and 

 Siberia ; extending in winter into the north-east of Africa, Northern India, and 

 China. The American harrier (C. hudsoniamis), commonly known as the marsh- 

 hawk, replaces the hen-harrier in North America, and is distinguished by the more 

 decided grey of the upper-parts and throat, as well as by some flecks of reddish 

 brown on the white of the under surface in the male ; the naked portion of the 

 metatarsus is also slightly longer. In Britain the hen-harrier seems always to 

 have been the rarest species, but the effects of drainage have not told so severely 

 upon its numbers as on those of the marsh-harrier. The pale-chested harrier (C. 

 macrurus), of which the male is represented in the right side of our plate, is a 

 slightly smaller bird than either of the two last, from both of which it may be at 

 once distinguished by the white upper tail-coverts being banded with grey. The 

 uniformly-coloured middle tail-feathers distinctive of the males of this group of 

 species are well shown in our plate. The pale harrier, although unknown in Britain, 

 is pretty generally distributed over Europe as far north as the 60th parallel ; it is 

 also found over the great part of Africa, exclusive of the forest regions of the west 

 coast, and eastwards ranges into India, Burma, and China. Tlie harrier (C. pygargus) 

 which takes its popular name from, the distinguished ornithologist Montagu, by 

 whom it was first recognised as a distinct species, and of which a male is repre- 

 sented in the upper figure of the plate, differs from the species referred to above 

 by the white thighs of the male being flecked with reddish brown ; and may be 

 still more readily recognised by the three dark bands crossing the secondaries, one 

 of which is visible when the wings are closed. The middle tail-feathers are 

 uniform bluish grey, and the lateral ones white with reddish orange bars; the 

 under-parts, behind the chest, being coloured like the latter. The general colour 

 of the female is brown of various shades. Montagu's harrier is lighter and 

 more slenderly built than the hen-harrier; and appears to have been the most 

 common of the British species. Its distribution is almost identical with that of 

 the pale harrier. The largest and most powerful of all the three British 

 species is the marsh - harrier, or moor-buzzard (C. ceruginosus), in which the 

 female measures 23 inches in length. In this species the two sexes are nearly 

 alike at all ages, the prevailing colour of the plumage of the upper-parts being 



