CIRCUS SWAINSONII. 



of the tail; the third and fourth quill-feathers equal and longest. Tail long 

 and slightly round at the point. Tarsi long and rather slender. 



DIMENSIONS. 



laches. Lines. 



Length from the point of the bill to 



the tip of the tail 1 9 



Length of the bill from the gape 1 



of the wings ■when folded 13 



of the tail 9 C 



Length of the tarsus 



of the middle toe. 

 of the outer toe... 

 of the inner toe . . 

 of the hinder toe . 



{Middle Aged i>i«/t>.— Plate XLIIl. Fig 2.) 



Colour. — Above, a part of the plumage is purplish brown and a part dark 

 silvery grey, the latter most advanced upon the shoulders and anterior 

 parts of the wings. Chin, throat, and breast greyish white, variegated 

 with large rusty brown stripes, one along the middle of each feather ; 

 belly, flanks, thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts white, with a number of 

 longitudinal stripes of a colour intermediate between tile and hyacinth-red ; 

 upper tail-coverts white, clouded with grey towards the point. 



{Young Female. —VX^ie XLIV.) 



Colour. — The top of the head, cheeks, ear-coverts, upper surface of 

 the neck, interscapulars, back, scapulars, and les.ser wing-coverts purplish 

 brown -with a satin lustre, the feathers of the top of the head and the lesser 

 wing-coverts tipped with pale bufl'-orange, those of the back with reddisli 

 orange. The primary and secondary wing-coverts and the quill-feathers 

 umber-brown with a purple shade ; the primary wing-coverts are tipped with 

 white, and the first half of the inner vanes of the primary quill-feathers are 

 white barred with dark-brown, the outer vanes strongly tinted with grey ; the 

 quill-feathers narrowly tipped Avith dirty white. The four middle tail-feathers 

 barred alternately with purplish brown and greyish brown, the bars of the 

 latter colours clouded with buff or white shades; the lateral feathers dirty 

 white with three or four rusty brown bars ; the tips of all bright sienna yellow. 

 Eye-brows, space under eye, and the rump white ; cervical collar, throat, and 

 all the under parts intermediate between sienna-yellow and Dutch-orange; 

 several of the feathers of cervical collar towards its upper extremities brown 

 near centre, and several of those of the breast aud belly the same colour 

 near their shaft. 



This bird has a wide range in South Africa, and I have myself seen specimens of it, tiiougli 

 sparingly, in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, and also near Port Natal, the mouth of the 

 Orange River, and the Tropic of Capricorn. Like its congeners it flies low, often almost 

 touching the surface of the ground, and generally in a straight line, rather than in circles. Its 



