100 FALCONID A. 
in collections from the Himalaya Mountains; and Major 
Franklin obtained it in other parts of India. 
The whole length of a Marsh Harrier is from twenty- 
one to twenty-three inches, the difference in size depending 
on the sex of the specimen. The figure here given was 
taken from an adult male bird in the British Museum, 
in which collection there are examples of various ages. 
In an adult male, the beak is bluish black, with a slight 
festoon on the cutting edge; the cere and irides yellow ; 
the top of the head, cheeks, and nape of the neck, yellow- 
ish white, tinged with rufous, and streaked with dark 
brown; the back, wing-coverts, and tertials, dark reddish 
brown, with lighter margins; the primaries brownish 
black ; the secondaries and all the tail-feathers ash grey. 
This state of plumage is not assumed till the third moult. 
In birds that are still older, the wing-coverts and tertials in 
addition become partially or entirely ash grey; the wing 
primaries slate grey ; the chin and throat nearly white ; 
the breast rufous, streaked longitudinally with dark brown ; 
belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts, reddish brown, each 
feather streaked with dark brown ; the legs long, slender, 
and yellow ; the toes yellow ; the claws sharp and black. 
In young birds of the year, the whole of the plumage is 
chocolate brown; the feathers tipped with lighter reddish 
brown: the irides at this age are darker in colour than in 
the adult bird ; the legs and feet as in old birds. 
In the second year, the head, neck, chin, and throat 
become dull yellow, with an occasional patch of the same 
colour on the carpus, or anterior point of the wing. The 
figure by Mr. Bewick represents a bird in its second year. 
Duck Hawk, Harpy, and White-headed Harpy, are 
names occasionally bestowed on the Marsh Harrier. 
