Birds of Gelobes : Falconidae. 7 
bill somewhat weak, with a blunt festoon: tarsi naked (except at the top 
anteriorly), clad in front wnth transverse shields, elsewhere with small 
reticulate scales. Food: amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, etc. Eggs 
2 — -4 in number. x\bout 18 species, migratory and stationary, distributed over 
the greater part of the world. 
2. CIRCUS ASSIMILIS Jard. Selby. 
Allied Harrier. 
Circus assimilis (I) Jard.&Selby, 111. Orn. 1.826, I, pl.51 type examd. ^ ; f2)ScliL, Mus.P.-B. 
Circi, 1862, 9; (III) id., Yalkv. 1866, 29, 66, pi. 20, f. 2, 3; (4) Walden, Tr. Z. 8. 
1872, yill, 37; (5) Sharpe, Cat. B. 1874, I, 63; (6) Gurney, Ibis, 1875, 225; (7) 
id., Diurn. B. of Prey, 1884, 23; ysj W. Bias., Ztscbr. 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 HI, 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. 8. 1837, 141; (I) id., B. Austr. 1848, I, pi. 27; (2) 8. Mull., 
Beizen Ind. Arch. 1857, II, 8; (3) Gld., Handb. B. Austr. 1865, I, 60; (4) Schl., 
Bev. Acc. 1873, 50. 
h. Spilocircus jardinii (1) Kaup, Isis, 1847, 102. 
G. Strigiceps jardinii (1) Bp., Consp. 1850, I, 34. 
“Bokan buri”, 8. Celebes, Platen 8. 
For further references see Sharpe 5. 
Figures and descriptions. Jardine & Selby J; Gould a I, a 3] Schlegel JZJ; North 9 
(egg); Kaup b J; 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 brown — 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, hghter on the thighs and abdomen, and spangled all over with 
white spots arranged tAVO 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, Tjamba, May). 
Old. Crown of head, cheeks and ear -coverts tawny-rufous, Avith blackish mesial streaks ‘ 
to the feathers (cy. Lake Posso, 14. Feb. 95, P. & F. 8arasin). 
Female. Like the male, but larger. 
Young. Above broAvn with fulvous margins to the feathers; upper tail-coverts white 
Avashed with rufous and having dark broAvn 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 Avings and tail. The tail is nearly uniform 
brownish ashy with a rufous wash at its sides, marked Avith 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 broAvn towards the tip. 
