10 BIRDS OF TTEriRA DEL FUEGO 



CIRCUS CINEREUS (Vieillot) 



Gavilan del Campo del cenicientO, Azara, Pdxaros, Paraguay y 



La Plata, i, p. 145, 1802. 

 FalCO histrionicUS, Quoy et Gaimard, Voy. " Uranie,'' p. 93, pis. xv 



et xvi, 1824. 

 Circus cinereUS, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., iv, p. 454, 1816 ; 



B'Orhigny, Voy. Amer. Merid., Ois., p. 110, 1885; Gould and Darwin, 



Voy. "Beagle;' Birds, p. 30, 1841; Ahhutt, Ibis, p. 152, 1861; Sharpe, 



Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., i, p. 56, 1874; Durnford, Ibis, p. 38, 1877; 



p. 397, 1878 ; Sdater and Hudson, Argentine Orn., ii, p. 57, 1889 ; Oustalet, 



Miss. Sci. Cap Horn, Ois., p. 19, 1891. 



Habitat. — Brazil and Peru, to Tierra del Fuego ; the Falkland Islands. 



c^, ? , Useless Bay Settlement, 4tli Sept., 1904. 



Iris — pale orange ; bill — gvey, shading into pale orange at base ; legs- — 

 pale orange. 



The Ashy Harrier is a constant feature in the landscape of 

 the open country, especially in the lowland marshes. There are 

 numbers at the head of Useless Bay ; I have counted as many as 

 a dozen at one time on the wing. All day long they scour the 

 marshes for rodents and lizards, quartermg the ground in 

 leisurely zig-zag fashion, descending every now and then to 

 eflfect a capture. On calm days in summer, it is a pretty sight 

 to watch them at play in the air — tumbling somersaults, tilting 

 with one another, and constantly uttering their plaintive cry. 

 No matter how tearing the wind, they remain on the wing when 

 hardly another bird will stir from shelter of its own accord. 

 I have never known them prey on birds ; other birds have no 

 fear of them. In my experience, they prey exclusively on 

 rodents and a species of green lizard (Ltolcemus magell aniens), 

 Durnford, however, records an instance of the stomach of one shot 

 in Patagonia containing a freshly killed Seed Snipe (^Thinocorus 

 rumicworus). 



Practically nothing is written of this Harrier's field 

 habits by Azara, who, it is surprising to find, perceived " no 



