CIRCUS ASSIMILIS, Jard. and Selb.
Allied H airier.
Circus assimilis, Jard. and Selb. 111. Ora., vol. ii. pi. 51.
Swamp Hawk, of the Colonists.
T h e Ctrms assimihs may be regarded as the commonest of the Harriers inhabiting New South Wales and
South Australia; it also occurs, but in smaller numbers, in Van Diemen’s Land. Another Harrier is rather
„abundantly dispersed over all the localities suitable to its existence in W estern Australia, and it is ju st possible
that they may prove to be m ere varieties o f each o th e r ; if s |5 h should beithe! ease, the whole of the southern
portion of the coast o f Australia, from east to west, must be included within the range of its h a b ita t; still,
without further evidence in favour o f this supposition, I should consider them to be distinct species; e n d l !
this opinion is well-founded, the trwo species will be found to .inosculate in the latitude o f Spencer’s and
St. Vincent’s Gulfs, as, in the coUections lately forwarded to me by Mr. Harvey of Port Lincoln, I found two
or three individuals precisely identical with those from Swan River. In size the Grew assimilis is but little
inferior to the Marsh Harrier (Circus asrugimsw) of Europe, to which it offers a great resemblance in its
habits and economy; being generally sjen flying slowly and somewhat heavily near the sm-face o f the
ground, evincing a partiality to lagoons and marshy places, situations which offer it a greater variety and
abundance of food than any o th er; the principal p a rt of its food consists of reptiles, small mammalia and
birds. I several times, observed this species in the lagoons near Clarence Plains in Van Diemen’s Land, as
well as in all similar situations in almost every p art o f New South Wales I visited.
I was not so fortunate as to find the nest of this H a rrie r—a knowledge o f its form and o f the colour o f its
eggs is therefore yet to be ascertained. That it breeds in the localities in which I observed it I have little
doubt, from the circumstance o f the adults paying regular and hourly visits to the marshes in search o f food
which was doubtless borne away to their young. When in a state of quiescence, this species, like the other
Harriers, perches on some elevation in the open plain rather than among the trees of the fo re s t; the trunk
of a fallen tree, a large stone, or small hillock, being among its lavourite resting-places.
The sexes offer the usual differences in the larger size o f the female; the markings o f that sex are also
rather less well-defined, and have n o t so much of the grey colouring as the male.
Head and all the upper surface rich dark brown; the feathers a t the back o f the neck margined with
reddish.buff; face light reddish brown; facial disc buffy white, with a dark stripe down the centre of
each fea th e r; all the under surface buffy white, which is deepest on the lower p a rt o f the abdomen and
thighs, each feather with a streak of brown down the c en tre ; upper tail-coverts and base of the tail-feathers
Wh ite; remaining length of the tail-feathers brownish g r e y ; irides reddish orange; eyelash and cere pale
yellow; bill dark brown, becoming light blue a t the base; tarsi greenish white; feet bright orange;?claws'
dark brown.
The female differs in being of a larger size and o f a darker brown, particularly on the under surface, and
in having the tail o f a deeper tint and obscurely barred.
The figures are about two-thirds o f the natural size.