The Zoologist — July, 1870. 2199 



Honey Buzzard. — Most frequently met with in the counties on the 

 east coast of England. The houey buzzard has lately been captured 

 in Cornwall (see 'Zoologist' for 1855-6). Two specimens obtained 

 from Carclew, and one from Trereife, near Penzance. This species is 

 remarkable for having the lore covered with small feathers, which in 

 the other Raptores is nearly bare. 



Marsh Harrier. — Rare throughout the whole county : a few speci- 

 mens have been procured from this neighbourhood, viz. the Land's 

 End, Boswhartou Moor and Lamorna ; but the species appears to be 

 more rare every year. 



Hen Harrier. — Not a numerous species : a proportion of four-fifths 

 of the examples captured have been in the "ringtail" or brown 

 plumage. The ringtail is the female of this species, and the young 

 males exhibit the female tints till the second or third year. 



Montagu's Harrier. — Not rare: an immature female was obtained 

 from Madron, and another from one of the western parishes : an adult 

 male from Trelaske, in the eastern part of the county. There are four 

 distinctions in this species from the last, xiz. its inferiority of size ; the 

 black bars on the secondary feathers of the wing of the male; greater 

 length of wing ; and in the under parts of the adult male having 

 longitudinal rufous streaks, whilst the immature males and females 

 have the under parts of an uniform rufous-brown— characters not 

 observable in the common harrier. Montagu's harrier has been 

 captured at Scilly : the adult female in my collection was sent to me 

 from the islands. (This harrier may be regarded as a species quite as 

 plentiful as the common or hen harrier of late years in the Land's End 

 district. We get them in Cornwall in all stages of plumage, more 

 frequently in the immature than in the adult state, with the under 

 parts having an uniform fawn-colour. An adult male and female were 

 shot on the property of Mr. George Williams, near the Lizard, this 

 week, and with them there was a second female, a variety, with au 

 uniform sooty hlack plumage throughout — the second of the kind 

 I have noticed: the tone of this colour is so intense that the bars on 

 the tail are only just perceptible : both the females were far advanced 

 in the development of their eggs. The adult female, as also another 

 I had some time since from Scilly, has the breast yellowish white, 

 with rusty red linear oblong blotches, the general colour of the upper 

 parts wood-brown, but on the wing-coverts when closed there is a 

 broken patch of yellowish white. The dark bird was caught in a trap, 

 first baited with a rabbit, or something of the sort : this attracted her, 



