Birds of Celebes; Falconidae. 
7 
bill somewhat weak, with a blunt festoon: tarsi naked (except at the top 
anteriorly), clad in front with transverse shields, elsewhere with small 
reticulate scales. Food: amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, etc. Eggs 
2 — 4 in number, xibout 18 species, migratory and stationary, distributed over 
the greater part of the world. 
d- 2. CIRCUS ASSIMILIS Jard. Selby. 
Allied Harrier. 
Circus assimilis (I) Jard. & S elby, 111. Orn. 1.826, I, pi. 51 type examd. i) ; f.2jSchl., Mas. P.-B. 
Circi, 1862, 9; (III) id., Valkv. 1866, 29, 66, pi. 20, f. 2, 3; (4) Walden, Tr. Z. S. 
1872, yill, 37; (5) Sharpe, Cat. B. 1874, I, 63; (6) Gurney, Ibis, 1875, 225; (7) 
id.. Diurn. B. of Prey, 1884, 23; (8) W. Bias., Ztschr. Ges. Orn. 1885, 205, 234; (9) 
North, Nests & Eggs B. Austr. 1889, 1, pi. II, f. 4 (egg); (10) Biittik., Webers 
Beise in Ost-Ind. 1893 III, 272; (11) M. & Wg. , Abb. Mus. Dresden 1896 no. 1, p. 7; 
(12) Harter t, Nov. Zook 1896, 163. 
a. Circus jardinii Gld., P. Z. S. 1837, 141; (I) id., B. Austr. 1848, I, pi. 27; (2) S. Miill., 
Beizen Ind. Arch. 1857, II, 8; (3) Gld., Handb. B. Austr. 1865, I, 60; (4) Schl, 
Bev. Acc. 1873, 50. 
b. Spiloeircus jardinii (1) Kaup, Isis, 1847, 102. 
G. Strigiceps jardinii (1) Bp., Consp. 1850, I, 34. 
“Bokan buri”, S. Celebes, Platen 8. 
For further references see Sharpe 5. 
Figures and descriptions. Jardine & Selby J; Gould a I, a 5; Schlegel JZJ; North 9 
(egg); Kaup b Sharpe 5\ W. Bias. 8. 
Male, nearly adult. General colour above brownish ash, darker on head; forehead, ear- 
coverts and crown with rufous margins to the feathers; secondaries pure ashy, 
banded with dark hrown — indistinctly on the inner web; wing-coverts, scapulars 
and upper tail- coverts marked with short bars or large spots of white, which are 
more indistinct and ashy on exposed parts of the plumage; shoulder rufous; tail 
above ashy, below white, crossed with seven bars of blackish and terminally margined 
with white; under surface — including under wing- and tail-coverts and thighs — 
cinnamon-rufous, lighter on the thighs and abdomen, and spangled all over with 
white spots arranged two and two at short intervals on the opposite webs of the 
feathers. “Iris sulphur-yellow; cere and bill bluish grey (cere pale yellow — 
Wallace); tip of bill black; feet citron-yellow” (Platen). Nr. 6735, Tjaml 3 a, May). 
Old. Crown of head, cheeks and ear-coverts tawny-rufous, with blackish mesial streaks 
to the feathers ((J^, Lake Posso, 14. Feb. 95, P. & E. Sarasin). 
Female. Like the male, but larger. 
Young. Above brown with fulvous margins to the feathers; upper tail-coverts white 
washed with rufous and having dark brown centres; tail sepia-brown tipped with 
1) The type of Circus assimilis J. S. in the British Museum is immature and not normal, differing 
from all other specimens there of this species in the coloration of the wings and tail. The tail is nearly uniform 
brownish ashy with a rufous wash at its sides, marked with 3 or 4 imperfect bars of brown towards the base, 
followed by a clear space, with an imperfect terminal bar. Upper tail-coverts white, a few of the longer ones 
with a bar of brown towards the tip. 
