Mr. VV". O. Aikin on the Ash-vohured Harrier. 323 



1 2. Mandibles, fChelictres, antenne-pinces, ou serves frontaleSf 



Latr.),of $ Lox. citigrada. 



13. Ditto of $ Scijt. thoracica, Latr. 



14. Outline profile of abdomen and thorax of Lox. citigrada. 



15. Ditto ditto of Sc^f. </io?'rtaca, Latr. 



All except Figs. 1, 2 and 3, more or less magnitied. 



Aur. XLIH. J^'ote on the Ash-coloured Harrier, (Falco 

 ci)ierarius, Mont.) By W. O Aikin, Esq., in a Letter 

 to the Editor. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL. 



Sir, 



I have had, during the last month, an opportunity of examining several 

 specimens of the ash-coloured Harrier, (Falco ciiierarius,J and as the 

 females differ materially from the description published in Selby's 

 Illustrations of British Ornithology, perhaps my remarks may not be 

 unacceptable to the readers of your valuable Journal. 



In the description above alluded to, it is stated that " the whole of the 

 " under parts are orange-brown without spot or streak;''' I have now 

 seen five adult females, none of which have the under parts of a uniform 

 colour, on the contrary, every feather for a considerable space on each 

 side of the shaft is very much darker than the edges, so as to give the 

 appearance of lengthened streaks down the breast, belly and thighs, but 

 more particularly on the breast; the irides also of four of these birds 

 were of a deep hazel, though certainly arrived at maturity, as one of 

 them was brought to me with its mate and nest of young ; the other had 

 the irides of a very light yellow, and from its general appearance I should 

 judge was a much older bird, as the whole plumage was of a lighter 

 colour. 



Montagu, in the Supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, substitutes 

 the description of a young male for that of the mature female, in which 

 he states that the under parts are of a uniform colour, so that it is apparent 



