CIRCUS JAEDINII. 



(Jardine's Harrier.) 



Crown, cheeks, and ear coverts, dark chestnut, streaked with brown; facial disk, back of the neck, upper part of the back, and chest, grey ; 

 lower part of the back and scapularies, the same color, but marked with two spots of white at the tip of most of the feathers ; shoulders, 

 under side of wing, abdomen, thighs, and under tail coverts, bright chestnut, spotted with white ; primaries, black — the basal portions, buffy 

 brown ; secondaries, dark grey, crossed with three narrow bars of dark brown, and broadly tipped with the same color ; upper tail coverts, 

 brown, barred and tipped with whitish ; tail, barred with whitish grey and blackish brown, the tip being broadest and of the latter color, with 

 a whitish termination; irides, orange in the adult, brown in the young ; cere, greenish yellow; bill, blue at the base and black at the tip; legs 

 and feet, yellow ; claws, black. The female is larger than the male, and brighter in color. 



Expanse, 55 inches; length, 20; wing, 15; tail, 10; tarsus, 3|. 



This very handsome and conspicuous species of Harrier is found pretty generally dispersed, though by no means common, over 

 New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland, especially in the peninsula of Cape York, where it is a permanent resident, frequenting 

 the open land. Its usual resort is flat country in the vicinity of creeks, where it may be generally seen perched upon a stump or stone, or 

 flying at a short distance from the ground minutely surveying every object beneath in search of its food, which consists of various reptiles, 

 birds, and small mammalia. A nest of this species was found by Mr. White, of Eeed Beds, near Adelaide, October 21, 1865. It was large, 

 formed of sticks, and placed in the fork of a stunted Eucalyptus, and contained three young birds thickly covered with grey down, and also 

 one white egg, which was of a rounded form — the size measuring 1| inch by 1^ inch. 



