MONTAGU’S HARRIER. a 
brown ; great wing-coverts dark brown ; lesser wing-coverts 
lighter brown varied with rufous, and two or three grey fea- 
thers; chin, and front of neck, pearl grey; breast, belly, 
thighs, and under tail-coverts, white, with a longitudinal 
rufous stripe on the centre of each feather ; under surface 
of tail-feathers barred with greyish white and brown ; legs, 
toes, and claws as in the adult male. 
A young male in the plumage of the first year has the 
head and neck ferruginous, each feather with a central lan- 
ceolate patch of dark brown; back and wings umber brown ; 
wing-coverts with broad ferruginous margins; primaries 
brownish black ; secondaries and tertials tipped with rufous ; 
upper tail-coverts white, tipped with red ; upper surface of 
the tail-feathers with five bands of dark brown, and four 
bands of grevish brown ; ear-coverts uniform umber brown ; 
chin, throat, breast, belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts, 
uniform reddish brown ; under surface of wings the same ; 
under surface of tail-feathers dull reddish white, with four 
or five bands of brownish grey ; legs, toes, and claws, as 
in older birds. 
The adult female of Montagu’s Harrier measures nine- 
teen inches; the beak black; the cere dull yellow; the 
irides hazel; crown of the head and nape reddish brown, 
with darker brown spots; above and below the eye a 
streak of dull white; ear-coverts dark brown; back and 
wings dark umber brown; rump and upper tail-coverts 
mixed with white and orange brown ; upper surface of the 
central tail-feathers uniform dark brown; lateral tail- 
feathers barred with two shades of brown; breast, belly, 
and all the under surface of the body, light reddish 
brown, with longitudinal marks of a darker colour; legs 
and toes yellow; claws black. In very old females 
of this species the general colour of the plumage is lighter 
