? ad. supra saturate fulvo-fusea, ferrugineo-aurantiaco notata : remigibus fuscis griseo tinctis et nigro-fusco 

 fasciatis : supracaudalibus imis albis, rufescenti notatis : rectricibus centralibus griseo-fuscis, nigro- 

 fusco fasciatis, reliquis cinereo-albis rufescenti tinctis et ferrugineo-fusco transfasciatis : corpore subtus 

 pallide ocbraceis ferrugineo-fusco striatis. 



Juv. supra saturate chocolatino-fuscus, pilei plumis et tectricibus alarum rufescente ochraceo marginatis et 

 apicatis, remigibus inconspicue fasciatis : cauda sicut in fcemina adulta picturata, sed rectricibus late- 

 ralibus ochraceo-ferrugineis nigro-fusco fasciatis : gula, gutture et corpore subtus pallide ochraceo- 

 ferrugineis immaculatis : capitis lateribus saturate fuscis, macula auris ochraceo-ferruginea. 



Adult Male (Malta, April) . Head, neck, breast, back, and wing-coverts ashy blue-grey, much darker on 

 the upper parts ; upper tail-coverts white at the base, bluish ash towards the tip ; tail like the back, 

 except the two outer rectrices on each side, which are paler and barred with pale ferruginous, the two 

 next barred with darker grey tinged with reddish; primaries black; secondaries short, coloured like 

 the back, with two hidden and one conspicuous blackish bars ; underparts below the breast greyish 

 white, striped with chestnut-red ; bill blackish horn ; cere, iris, and legs yellow. Total length about 

 17 inches, culmen l - 05, wing 14 - 8, tail 1O0, tarsus 2 - 5. 



Adult Female (Malta) . Upper parts dark warm brown varied with light rusty rufous ; quills brown with a 

 greyish tinge, barred with blackish brown ; lower portions of the upper tail-coverts white, striped and 

 blotched at the tip with rufous ; central rectrices greyish brown, barred with blackish brown, the outer 

 rectrices white or greyish white tinged with rufous and barred with dark reddish brown or blackish 

 brown ; underparts warm pale ochreous, striped with rusty brown ; under surface of the quills white or 

 greyish white, barred with blackish. 



Young (Volga). Upper parts almost uniform dark chocolate-brown, except on the crown and wing-coverts, 

 where the feathers are margined or tipped with warm light rusty red ; quills almost uniform, without 

 barrings; tail as in the adult female; but the outer rectrices are pale ochreous rufescent, barred with 

 blackish brown; chin, throat, and underparts generally pale ochreous rufescent; sides of the head 

 dark brown, with a band of pale rufescent passing round the lower part of the ear-coverts. 



Obs. The present species appears to be more especially subject to melanism ; and one not unfrequently sees 

 examples of a uniform blackish brown colour. I do not possess one in this peculiar form or variety of 

 plumage, but have seen several from Spain, where this dark variety appears to be more frequently met 

 with, perhaps, than elsewhere in Europe. A very fine specimen, which was formerly in the possession 

 of Mr. Howard Saunders, is now in the British Museum. 



The range of this Harrier is tolerably wide ; for it is found throughout Europe, except in the 

 more northern countries, in Africa as far south as the Cape colony, and in Asia as far east as 

 China. 



In Great Britain it is far less numerous than it used formerly to be, this being more 

 especially the case in the fen-country in the east of England ; for since the reclamation of so 

 many of the fens it has gradually decreased in numbers until it now only breeds there occa- 

 sionally. Mr. Stevenson writes (B. of Norf. i. p. 39), in Norfolk it is " certainly less rare than 

 is generally supposed; and whilst the Hen-Harrier has ceased almost entirely to nest even in 

 the eastern portion of the county, the Ash-coloured Harrier, as this bird is also termed, has 

 been known to breed with us in several instances of late years, though not regularly enough to 



