Ceylon Ornithology. 



165 



mined the species ; it had a close resemblance to the European 

 Sparrow Hawk. Mr. Layard says he has not seen this hawk 

 in the Island. To enable others to identify this bird in Ceylon 

 the following description from Stark's Elements of Natural 

 History is here added : 



" Bluish, cinereous above ; a white spot on the neck ; 

 white beneath, with brown undulations ; tail ashy grey, with 

 five bars of blackish cinereous ; cere yellowish green ; feet 

 and iris yellow. About 12 inches long." 



SUB-FAM : CIMCIN^E. 



Circus Swainsonii, A. Smith. Swainson's Hen-Harrier. 



Syn. Circus pallidus, Sykes. 



Circus albescens, Lesson. 

 Circus Dalmaticus, Ruppel. 

 Falco aequipar, Cuv. s M. S. 

 Falco cyaneus, var. A. Lesson. 



Pale ashy above ; white beneath. Inner web of some of 

 the primaries dark brown. Upper tail coverts white, with 

 transverse ashy bars. Tail ashy, indistinctly barred ; outer 

 rectrices whitish speckled and barred with ash. Bill blackish. 

 Tarsi and toes yellow ; claws black. Length 1 foot 1 inch. 

 "Wing 1 foot 2 inches. 



Generally found on the plains of the low country, and 

 rarely in the Kandyan provinces. It feeds on small birds^ 

 frogs and lizards. 



Circus Cinerascens, Gould. The Ashy Brown Harrier. 

 Syn. Falco cinerascens, Mont. 

 Circus Montagui, Vieil. 



Ashy brown above. Under part of the neck and breast 

 ashy, with rufous mesial streaks to the feathers of the latter. 



