CIRCUS 505 



tail-coverts white faintly barred with grey ; tail grey with a brownish tinge, 

 the outer feathers whiter ; under parts white, the chin, throat, and breast 

 .streaked with blackish brown ; soft parts as in C. ccrufjinoms. Culmen 

 1*6, wing 15*5, tail 9'25, tarsus 3*5 inch. The female is larger and differs 

 from that of C. (cruginosus in having the crown blackish brown marked 

 with rufous buff, and the tail with dark bands which are nearly obsolete in 

 very old birds. The young bird closely resembles that of C. (cruginosus. 



Hal. Of doubtful occurrence in India; South-east Siberia, 

 Mongolia, China, Burma, and Japan, south to the Philippines 

 and the Malay peninsula. 



In habits it closely resembles C. ccruginosus, but is said to be 

 more kite-like in appearance. Its food is similar to that of the 

 Marsh-Harrier, and like that species it feeds largely on the 

 eggs of ground-nesting birds. Its nest, which is placed in 

 damp marshy places, often on masses of floating herbage, is 

 a clumsy structure of dry herbage, and the eggs, which are 

 usually deposited in June, are white tinged with greenish blue 

 and measure about 1'90 by 1*50. 



717. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. 

 CIRCUS CINERACEUS. 



Circus cineraceus (Montag.), Orn. Diet. i. sheet K. 3. (1802) ; (Naum.) 

 i. p. 402, Taf. 40 ; Gould, B. of E. i. pi. 35 ; Hewitson, i. p. 49, 

 pi. xvi. fig. 3 ; Newton, i. p. 38 ; Dresser, v. p. 423, pi. 328 ; 

 Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iii. p. 383 ; Saunders, p. 319 ; 

 Lilford, i. p. 73, pis. 37, 38 ; C. cinerarius. Leach, Syst. Cat. 

 Mam. etc. Brit. Mus. p. 9. (1816) ; C. cmerascens, Steph. Gen. 

 Zool. xiii. p. 41 (1825) ; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. i. pi. xxvii ; 

 C. pygargus, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. i. p. 64 ; David and 

 Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 28 (nee. Linn.) ; C. montagui. Vieill. Nouv. 

 Diet. xxxi. p. 411 (1819). 



Busard cendre, French ; Aguicn cagadeira, Portug. ; Cenizo, 

 Span. ; Albanclla minor e, Ital. ; Wiesenweihe, German ; Graauwe 

 Kuikendief, Dutch ; Greta Kjaerhog, Dan. ; Mindre Ktirrliok, 

 Swed. ; Lugovoi Lun, Russ. ; Bouschrada, Arab. ; Dastmal, 

 Hindu. ; Pandouvi, Beng. 



<J ad. (Spain). Head, neck, breast, and upper parts ashy blue-grey 

 darker on the upper parts ; secondaries with two hidden and one con- 

 spicuous blackish bar ; primaries black ; tail ashy blue-grey ; the outer 

 feathers paler and barred with reddish ; under parts greyish white striped 

 with chestnut-red ; bill blackish horn ; cere, iris, and legs yellow. 

 Culmen T05, wing 14'8, tail lO'O, tarsus 2'5 inch. The female is some- 



