18/6.] RAPTORIAL. BIRDS OF INDIA. 315 



and thi;;li-co verts, whereas the author I have quoted (as in fact do 

 Jerdon, Sliarpe, and Humet) gives the breast only as bluish grey, 

 and the rt^st of the underparts (of the adult male) as white. Nowhere 

 do I find the whole of the underparts described as bluish grey the 

 same as the back ; so that the present example would appear to be 

 unique in this respect ;f. 



The following are its dimensions: — length 176, wing 14*5, 

 tail from vent 9'4, tarsus 2'3. The irides were bright yellow ; the 

 legs and feet were dingy or pale yellow ; the bill and claws were black ; 

 and the cere was greenish yellow. 



But though this bird was doomed to succumb to the cause of 

 science in a foreign country, the most melancholy event in its history 

 is connected with its life in far more civiUzed climes than India ; for 

 its broken leg clearly testifies to the narrow escape it has had from 

 falling a victim to the vengeance of some one's zealous game-preserver, 

 most probably while acting as one of the "sanitary police of Nature." 

 The left tarsus has the appearance of having been snapped in a trap, 

 about the middle of the joint ; the skin, which apparently had not 

 been severed, has enabled the broken portion to reunite sideways ; 

 and though the fracture has healed in a most remarkable manner, 

 the lower part of the leg hangs by the skin, which has assumed the 

 form of a tliick tegument ; so that for all practical purposes, exceptino- 

 perhaps for roosting, the injured leg could not have been of any use ; 

 the broken stump protrudes beyond the join by a quarter of an inch. 



The range of Montagu's Harrier in Northern India is very puzzlin"-. 

 In the jungle tracts of Bundelkhand (south of the Jumna) it is far 

 from uncommon, and in parts of Oudh and Rohilkhand (north of the 

 Ganges) it is pretty generally distributed ; so that its absence iq the 

 Duab, an enormous tract of country, large areas of which are in every 

 way suited to its habits, is very singular indeed. 



*53. Circus melanoleucus, Gmel. 



It is with much pleasure that I announce for the first time the 

 advent of this unexpected addition (essentially an inhabitant of the 

 humid country of Eastern Bengal and the Tarais generally) to the 

 comparatively speaking arid plains of the North-western Provinces. 

 The specimen in question fell to the shot of my friend Mr. Luard. on 

 the 10th of February, when we were out shooting on the banks of the 

 Ganges, near Futtehgurh. When shot it had just alighted on the 

 ground, and was in the act of eating a large green grasshopper ; its 

 crop contained orthopterons insects of various kinds. 



It is an exceedingly fine male in the pied livery of the adult bird ; 

 its large, lustrous, gold-coloured eyes contrast strangely with its black 

 and white plumage, giving it in life a most beautiful appearance. 

 Carefully measured in the flesh it gave the following results, which, 



t Cf. 'Birds of India,' vol. i. p. 97 ; 'Catalogue of Accipitres," vol. i. p. 6G : 

 ' Rough Notes,' p. 303. ^ 



X Since the above wag wi itten I have received two male specimens of C. cine- 

 raceus from Europe; and in both examples the brca.tt only tsbbiishgrey. 



