PALE-CHESTED HARRIER. 57 
The Pale Harrier is said by Colonel Sykes to feed 
principally upon lizards; that it inhabits wild rocky 
plains, that the sexes are never met with together, and 
that it builds in high trees. 
The figure of the egg of this bird is from a drawing 
by M. Thienemann, pl. 44, fig. 2. 
The adult male, according to Temminck, has all the 
plumage generally pale; the grey colour very clear; 
the top of the head in the male has no brown and 
white spots; the rump and upper tail coverts are marked 
with grey bars; the bars on the side tail quills are 
six or seyen, and more strongly tinted with reddish. 
Head, mantle, and wing coverts of a pale grey; quills 
white at the base, passmg into deep brown at their 
extremities, and margined externally with greyish; all 
the parts below, from the throat to the abdomen, of a 
pure white, more or less varied according to.age, with 
fine brown streaks disposed over the chest and belly. 
Beak blue; cere and feet yellow; iris greenish yellow. 
The adult female has the plumage like that of the 
Hen Harrier, except that the colours are two shades 
paler; the tail is crossed by six large brown bars, that 
of C. cyaneus haying only four. 
In the above description it will be seen that 
Temminck differs from Colonel Sykes, as to the brown 
streaks on the chest. Gould’s figure was taken from a 
bird sent to him by M. Temminck. This discordance 
may probably be accounted for by the fact as stated 
by Temminck, that these marks are more or less visible 
according to age. 
