Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 283 
ceding specimen; the pale transverse bars on the middle 
rectrices are five in number.—J. H. G.] 
Female, shot on the 30th of July, in mimosa hush in the 
E/Ustenherg district, by my friend Mr. William Lucas, who 
gave it to me. Total length 13J inches, wing 8;^. Irides 
dark red; cere orange-red; tip of bill dark horn-colour; 
tarsi and feet red, claws black. The throat contained the 
bones and flesh of a small bird. 
[This is apparently a very fully adult bird, the black colour 
of the plumage being deeper and richer than in the two pre¬ 
ceding specimens, and the light transverse bands on the 
middle rectrices being but three in number and only the 
central one reaching across the feather; they are also tinged 
with dark grey, instead of with brown as in the other two 
examples.—J. H. G.] 
Circus macrurus (Gmel.). Swainson^s Harrier. 
Male. Irides pale yellow. 
Female. Irides dusky hazel. 
[The above-named female appears to me to be adult; the 
male is decidedly so.—J. H. G.] 
Circus cineraceus (Mont.). Montagues Harrier. 
Male adult, shot 14th March. Irides bright gamboge- 
yellow. 
This individual was exceedingly fat; and its stomach was 
crammed with grasshoppers. 
Circus ranivorus (Hand.). South-African Marsh- 
Harrier. 
Male, adult. Total length I8| inches, bill If, tarsus 3|^, 
wing I4f, tail 8|. Irides pale gamboge; bill black, bluish 
at the base; cere greenish yellow; tarsi and feet light 
orange-yellow. 
Female, adult, shot on the 25th of October from her nest, 
containing three chalky-white eggs very faintly tinged with 
grey. The nest was placed on a mass of thick sedges bent 
over the swamp, and about three feet above the water; it 
was composed partly of the sedge and partly of small 
sticks. 
