grey; with the occasional exception of a mottled brown spot
on the nape of the neck, the last remaining portion of the
former brown plumage ; the primaries nearly black, the first
the shortest and the lightest in colour, the longest not reaching
to the end of the ta il; the chin and throat ash-grey; the
breast and belly lighter in colour, becoming bluish-white;
thighs and under tail-coverts white; under surface of the
tail pale greyisli-wliite, with traces of five darker bars ; the
legs and toes yellow; the claws black.
Young males are brown, like the female to be next described,
hut begin to change to the grey, which distinguishes
the sex, in they- second au tum n ; young males are smaller
in size, and have the irides lighter in colour than those of
females at the same age. I t is probable that young males
are capable of breeding in their second year, before they have
acquired their grey plumage, as two brown birds, apparently
performing the duties of parents, have been shot at the same
nest.
The female measures about twenty-one inches in length ;
wing from the anterior bend fifteen inches; the hill almost
black; the cere greenish-yellow, the irides reddish-brown;
the top of the head and back of the neck umber-brown ; the
feathers of the latter with lighter reddish-brown edges, forming
a collar of spots on the neck; over the eye a light-coloured
streak; ear-coverts uniform umber-brown; the ruff round
the face formed by short feathers of mixed brown and white
colours, passing from behind the ear on one side round
under the chin to the back of the ear 011 the other side; the
hack and wings uniform umber-brown; the smaller wing-
coverts margined with ferruginous; primaries blackish-brown;
upper surface of the middle tail-feathers uniform umber-
hiown; the lateral tail-feathers dark-brown, barred with
lighter reddish-brown; the tip of all the feathers pale ferruginous
; the throat, breast, belly, thighs and under tail-
coverts, reddish-buff colour, each feather having an elongated
reddish-hrown patch in the middle, with a still darker shaft;
those of the thighs and the under tail-coverts being lighter in
colour, and less decidedly marked than those of the body ;
under surface of the middle tail-feathers strongly marked
with broad hands of brownish-black and dull white; the
outer feathers on each side greyish-white, with four darker
transverse b ars; the legs and toes yellow; the claws black.
Examples of this species are occasionally found of a more
or less uniform dull black colour. One such in the collection
of Dr. de Montessus is recorded by MM. Degland
and Gferbe, and another by MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-
Lapommeraye.
In reference to our Harriers a writer in ‘ The Naturalist ’
for 1837 (p. 314) remarked that some difference had been
observed in the relative length of the quill-feathers: in a
female the fourth quill-feather being the longest; in a male,
the third. This notice is here adverted to in order that the
relative length of the different quill-feathers in the wings,
when referred to in description, or as affording indications
of distinction in species, may not he too much relied upon
without having due regard to the period of the year at which
the birds were killed. In this country particularly, a large
proportion of our cabinet specimens are obtained in autumn,
the gun being then in general use, and during that period
the quill-feathers will frequently be found not to have
attained their ultimate relative proportions.
The vignette represents the head of the Ringtail, as mentioned
above.
v o l . 1. r