FALCONINjE. CIRCUS. 
57 
hares, rabbits, mice, frogs, lizards, serpents, and insects. It 
flies with considerable rapidity, but buoyantly. Although 
nowhere very common, it is generally dispersed. It nestles 
on the ground, laying from three to five eggs, which are 
broadly elliptical, of a bluish-white colour, an inch and three- 
fourths in length, an inch and a third in breadth. Of the 
young, which resemble the female, the male assumes the 
adult plumage at the first moult in its second autumn. 
Common Harrier. Hen Harrier. Blue Hawk. Blue Hite. 
Brown Kite. Blue or Brown Glede. 
Falco cyaneus and pygargus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 126. Male 
and Female. — Falco cyaneus, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 72. — 
Circus cyaneus, Bing-tailed Harrier, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, 
iii. 366. 
19. Circus cineraceus. Montagu’s Harrier. 
The wings extending a little beyond the tail ; the third 
quill much longer than the fourth. Male with the plumage 
light bluish-grey, the outer primaries black toward the end, 
the tail-coverts white. Female umber-brown above, pale 
reddish-yellow, with longitudinal bright red streaks beneath, 
tail-coverts white. Young similar to the female, but having 
the lower parts of a uniform bright red. 
Male, 17, .., 15, 1, 2/^, 1/^, Female, 19, ..., 15j. 
This species, which is said to occur on the continent from 
Poland southward, has been found in most of the southern 
and eastern counties of England, but has not hitherto been 
observed beyond Northumberland. Its habits are similar to 
those of the common species ; its eggs of the same colour, but 
smaller. 
Ash-coloured Harrier or Falcon. 
Falco cineraceus, Mont. Ornith. Diet. — Falco cineraceus. 
Temm. Man. d’ Ornith. i. — Circus cineraceus, Montagu’s Har- 
rier, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 378. 
20. Circus ^ruginosus. Marsh Harrier. 
Adult umber-brown tinged with grey above, deep reddish- 
brown beneath, the head, part of the neck, and the shoulders, 
yellowish- white. In very old individuals, the primary quills 
and tail-feathers ash-grey. Young deep chocolate, the wing- 
coverts tipped with brownish-red, the quills and tail-feathers 
with reddish-white. After the first moult, more or less 
pale reddish or yellowish- white on the head and neck. In- 
dividuals differ considerably in colour. Old birds having 
