CIRCUS MELANOLEUCUS. 



(THE PIED HARRIER.) 



Falco melanoJeucus, Forster, Ind. Zool. p. 12, pi. 11 (1781). 



Circus melanoleucus, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. iv. p. 465 (1816); Gray, Gen. Birds, i. p. 32 ; 

 Kelaart's Prodromus, Cat. p. 115 ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 105 ; 

 Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 98 ; Hume, Bough Notes, ii. p. 307 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, 

 p. 414 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 61 (1874) ; Hume, Stray Feath. vol. iii. p. 33 ; Swinhoe, 

 Ibis, 1874, p. 266, pi. 10; Gurney, Ibis, 1875, pp. 226-7, and 1876, p. 130; Hume, 

 Str. Feath. vol. v. p. 11 (1877). 



The Black-and-White Falcon, Pennant, Ind. Zool. p. 33, pi. 2 (1790) ; Kelaart, Prodromus. 



Pahatai, Hind. ; Allah Petaha, Nepalese (apud Jerdon). 



Kurtda-goya, Sinhalese. 



Adult male. LeBgth to front of cere 16'5 to 18 inches ; culmen from cere 0'75 ; wing, of 5 examples from different 

 parts of India, 13-7, 13-9, 14-2, 14-2, 14-5; tail 8-2 to 9 ; tarsus 2-9 to 3-25; mid toe 1-2 to 1-4, claw (straight) 

 0-55 ; height of bill at cere 0-35. 



06s. In Mr. Hume's table of measurements of 34 old males (Str. Feath. vol. v. p. 12) the wings range from 13-2 to 

 14-34 inches, and the tarsi from 2-8 to 3'25. 



Iris bright golden yellow ; cere varying from grey to greenish yellow ; bill black, paling into leaden at the base ; legs 

 and feet chrome-yellow. 



Entire head, neck, chest, back, upper scapular feathers, and median wing-coverts black, glossy on the upper parts and 

 dull on the fore neck and chest; least and greater wing-coverts, point of the wing, shorter primaries, secondaries, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts pale silvery grey, the quills brownish at the tips ; longer primaries blackish on the 

 terminal half, with the bases of the inner webs white ; tertials brownish near the tips, much darker in some 

 examples than in others ; tail light sullied grey, paler on the lateral feathers ; shafts of all but the latter feathers 

 brownish ; beneath from the chest, together with the under wing, pure unmarked white. 



Young. Iris " ochreous yellow" (Swinhoe); cere greenish grey or greenish yellow ; gape and loreal skin yellowish; 

 bill pale at the base. 



I subjoin here the description of Mr. Swinhoe's specimen, figured iu ' The Ibis,' 1874, inasmuch as it appears, according 

 to Mr. Gurney's judgment (' Ibis,' 1875, p. 226), to be, in all probability, the first plumage of the bird : — " Upper 

 parts light brown, the feathers on the back dark-stemmed. Crown, nape, and scapulars blackish brown in centre 

 of feathers, with broad yellowish-red margins. Underparts light buff, with yellowish-brown streaks, broad and 

 darker on the breast ; tibials and vent chestnut-buff, with darker stems to feathers. Quills brown, tipped light, 

 with lightish stems, and barred across inner webs, more obscurely towards their tips ; axillaries reddish cream, 

 with reddish-brown spots ; under wing whitish cream, with conspicuous bars. Upper tail-coverts greyish white ; 

 tail whitish brown, with three broad bars ; a fourth, indistinct bar crosses near base of tail." 



Obs. This example appears to be a male, as it has a wing of 13-0 inches only, although it is worthy of remark that 

 in some Harriers immature females are sometimes smaller than the other sex. The plumage of the specimen, as 

 described, is much like that of an adult female to be noticed hereafter ; and the presence of three " broad bars " on 

 the tail instead of a greater number of narrow ones, as ought to be the case in a young bird, is singular. 



Mr. Gurney remarks, in the same article, that " the progress towards maturity is marked in all cases by the spreading 

 of a conspicuous grey tint over the greater and middle wing-coverts, and over the outer webs of the secondaries and 

 of the upper portion of the primaries." This is doubtless the ease up to a certain point in the bird's change of 

 plumage ; but it appears evident that the entire adult plumage, as is only to be expected in an attire so marked in 



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