CIRCUS MACRURUS. 
(THE PALE HARRIER.) 
Accipiter macrourus, S. G. Gmelin, N. Comm. Petrop. xv. p. 439, pis. viii. & ix. (1771). 
Circus swainsonii, Smith, S. Afr. Q. Journ. i. p. 384 (1830) ; Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 32 ; Kelaart s 
Prodromus, Cat. p. 114 ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. N. II. 1853, xii. p. 104 ; Jerdon, Birds of 
Ind. i. p. 96 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 298 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 413 ; Legge, 
Ibis, 1874, p. 10, et 1875, p. 278; Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 109 (Severtzoff’s Fauna of 
Turkestan). 
Falco herlcecola , Tickell, J. A. S. B. 1833, p. 570. 
Circus pallidus, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 80; Gould, B. of Europe, i. pi. 34; Flume, Stray 
Feath. i. p. 160. 
Circus macrurus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 67 (1874). 
The Pallid Harrier of some writers ; Swainson’s Harrier of others. 
Pale-chested Harrier in India. 
White Hawk, Paddy-field Hawk , in Ceylon. 
Dastmal , Hind.; Puna-Prdndu, Tam., lit. “Cat-Kite;” Pilli-gedda , Tel., also “Cat-Kite.” 
Boz-Sa , Turkestan, lit. “ Grey Kite.” ■ 
Kurula-goya , TJkussa, Sinhalese. 
Adult male. Length to front of cere 17'0 to 17‘8 inches; culmen from cere 0/2, wing 13 to 14, averaging about 
13-7; expanse 42; tail 9-0 to 9-5, exceeding the closed wings from 1-5 to 3-0 ; tarsus 2-5 to 2-8 ; middle toe 1-2 
to l - 3, claw (straight) 0 - G to 065 ; height of bill at cere 038. 
Female. Wing from 1 4-2 to 14-9 inches, averaging about 14-6. 
Male. Lis golden yellow, very rich in the oldest birds ; cere yellow, tinged with green above ; gape greenish yellow . 
bill blackish at top, paling to blue at cere ; legs and feet chrome-yellow ; claws black. 
Head and entire upper surface, including the wing-coverts, bluish ashy, the upper tail-coverts barred with white , in 
most examples, except the very oldest, there is a brownish wash on the nape and mantle ; primaries ashy gre} , 
the 3rd, 4th, and 5th more or less black, according to age, from the notch to the tip, and white from that part 
along the inner w’eb to the base; secondaries ashy grey, tipped pale, and with their inner edges white; tail pale 
grey, the three lateral feathers white, and all but the central pair banded with narrow grey bars ; forehead and 
an ill-defined supercilium, chiu, throat, under surface of body, and wings pure white ; throat, sides of neck, and 
chest very pale bluish grey, blending into the white of the lower parts, and with the shafts darker than the webs . 
cheeks faintly striated with grey. 
Young male. Wing in the first year varying from 12-8 to 14 - 0 inches, quite equal to the adult. 
Iris greenish, or less bright yellow' than in the adult ; cere and eyelid greenish yellow ; bill blackish horn-colour, bluish 
near the cere ; legs and feet citron-yellow. 
Above chocolate-brown, with an angular white nuchal patch, and with the upper tail-coverts white, with terminal 
rufous-browm spots ; the entire upper surface edged with rufous, narrowly on the head, more broadly ou the bind 
neck and lesser wing-coverts, and on the back and scapulars confined chiefly to the tips of the feathers ; quills 
brown the inner webs barred with darker colour, and the interspaces from the notch upwards buff ; a grey wash 
on the outer webs of the primaries, and the tips, as w’ell as those of the secondaries, pale fulvous ; tail drab-brow n 
on the centre feathers, changing on the three laterals to buff, the tip buffy white, and the whole, with the excep mu 
