506 CIRCUS 



what larger and has the upper parts brown varied with rusty rufous, 

 the quills and middle tail-feathers tinged with grey and barred 

 with blackish brown ; the outer tail-feathers greyish white tinged 

 with rufous and barred with brown ; under parts warm ochreous striped 

 with rusty brown. Young birds have the under parts tinged with rufous 

 and unstriped. This species is subject to melanism and uniform blackish 

 brown varieties are occasionally met with. 



Hob. A summer visitor to the British Islands and Continental 

 Europe generally, more numerous in the south. Of occasional 

 occurrence in Sweden, and has once been obtained in Finland ; 

 Africa south to Cape Colony : Asia east to China, wintering in 

 India and Ceylon. 



Like its allies it affects open plains and marshes, and never 

 perches or roosts in a tree, but passes the night on the ground 

 amongst the^ grass or aquatic plants. It flies low and quarters 

 the ground carefully. It feeds on insects, mice, small reptiles, 

 small birds, and the eggs of ground-nesting species, and in 

 Spain wherever there were colonies of Terns, Stilts, etc., I found 

 nests of this Harrier. The nest is placed on the ground or on 

 floating masses of reeds, and is constructed of grass and flags of 

 less coarse materials and better made than that of the Hen- 

 Harrier, and the eggs, 4 to 6 in number, are usually deposited 

 in May and resemble those of C. ceruginosus but are smaller, 

 measuring about 1*49 by 1'25. 



718. PALLID HAERIER. 

 CIRCUS SWAINSONI. 



Circus swainsoni, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. i. p. 384 (1830) ; Dresser, 

 v. p. 441, pi. 330 ; ? C. macrourus (S. G. Gmel.) N. Com. Petr. xv. 

 p. 439 (1771) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. i. p. 67 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, iii.p. 381 ; C. pallidus, Sykes, P.Z.S. 1832, p. 80 ; Gould, B. of 

 E. i. pi. 34 ; Naum. xiii. p. 154, Taf. 348. 



Busard pdle, French ; Albanella chiara, Ital. ; Steppenweihe, 

 German ; Steppehog, Dan. ; EleJc Kdrrhok, Swed. ; Stepnoi Lun, 

 Russ. ; Ach-Asalagan, Tartar. ; Dastmal, Hindu. 



ad. (India). Upper parts blue- grey, the head paler ; upper tail- 

 coverts white barred with dark blue-grey; middle tail-featheis blue- 

 grey, the rest white barred with dark blue-grey ; primaries pale at the 

 base becoming blackish towards the tip, the first dark ashy blue ; under 

 parts white, the flanks indistinctly striped ; bill blackish ; cere, iris, and 

 legs yellow. Culmen 1-15, wing 13'8, tail 9'2, tarsus 2'9 inch. The 

 female resembles that of C. cineraceus but is paler and less rufous, and the 

 ruff is more distinctly defined. 



