CIRCUS ^HUGINOSUS [Lmn). 



(Marsh-Harrier.) 



By Mr. G. D. ROWLEY. 



(Plate XLV.) 



In Yarrell's ^British Birds/ 4th edit. p. 131, the Editor says : — " In young 

 birds of the year the whole of the plumage is chocolate-brown ; the feathers 

 tipped with lighter reddish brown ; the irides then are yellowish hazel^, and 

 remain so in the females at all ages. 



" In the second year the head, neck, chin, and throat become dull 

 yellow, with occasionally a patch of the same colour on the carpus or 

 anterior point of the wing. The figure given by Bewick represents a bird 

 in this stage.'' 



Messrs. Elwes and T. E. Buckley mention a specimen of a deep brown, 

 almost black, all over (Ibis, 1870, n. s. vol. vi. p. 76) :— " The great variety 

 of plumage [in Turkey] in this species is at first very puzzling, some of the 

 very old males having the wings and tail of a bluish cream-colour, and in 

 some cases nearly white ; Mr. Robson has a specimen whose entire plumage 

 is of a deep brown, almost black." 



The beautiful Plates in Mr. Gould's ' Birds of Great Britain/ vol. i., 

 render it unnecessary to give the birds of the year or the second year. I 

 have therefore had a portrait taken of a male shot by Mr. Howard Saunders, 

 April 29, 1868, and marked "Playa de la Resina, near Seville,'' spoken of by 

 him as unique, and which, by his kindness, is now in my collection. This 



