irides bright yellow; the head, the whole of the neck, back,
wing-coverts, secondaries and tertials, bluish-grey; the
secondaries with three dark cross-bars, the last of which is
visible externally when the wing is closed ; the primaries
almost black; upper surface of the middle tail-feathers
bluish-grey; the lateral tail-feathers white, barred with
reddish-orange; breast, belly and under tail-coverts, white
with various longitudinal streaks of reddish-orange; under
wing-coverts barred with reddish-brown; under surface of
tail-feathers dull white, barred with dusky grey; legs and
toes yellow; the claws black.
A young male, from which the figure was taken, killed
while undergoing his second moult, and in a state of gradual
change, has the top of the head and the feathers round the
cheeks a mixture of brown and rufous, ear-coverts grey;
occiput varied with white; the nape, back, scapulars, tertials
and upper tail-coverts, lead-grey; upper surface of all the
tail-feathers, except the two in the middle, barred with two
shades of brown and rufous; middle tail-feathers, with the
outer webs uniform pearl-grey; the inner webs with five
dark brown bands on a greyish ground; primaries and
secondaries blackisli-brown; greater wing-coverts dark brown;
lesser wing-coverts lighter brown varied with rufous, and
two or three grey feathers : chin and front of the neck, pearl-
grey; breast, belly, thighs and under tail-coverts, white,
with a longitudinal rufous stripe on the middle of each
feather; under surface of tail-feathers barred with greyish-
white and brown; legs, toes and claws as in the adult.
A young male in the plumage of the first year has the
head and neck ferruginous, each feather with a median
lanceolate patch of dark brown; back and wings umber-
brown ; wing-coverts with broad ferruginous margins; primaries
brownish-black; secondaries and tertials tipped with
rulous: upper tail-coverts white, tipped with re d ; upper
surface of the tail-feathers with five bands of dark brown,
and four bands of greyish-brown; ear-coverts uniform umber-
brown ; chin, throat, breast, belly, thighs and under tail-
coverts, uniform reddish-brown ; under surface of wings tbe
MONTAGU’S HARRIER. 143
same ; under surface of tail-feathers dull reddish-white, with
four or five bands of brownish-grey; legs, toes and claws, as
in older birds.
The adult female measures nineteen inches; the wing
fifteen; the beak black; the cere dull yellow; the irides
hazel; crown of the head and nape reddish-brown, with
darker brown spots ; above and below the eye a streak of
dull white; ear-coverts dark brown ; back and wings dark
umber-brown; rump and upper tail-coverts mixed with
white and orange brown; upper surface of middle tail-
feathers uniform dark brown; lateral tail-feathers barred
with two shades of brown ; breast, belly and all the under
surface of the body, light reddish brown, with longitudinal
marks of a darker colour; legs and toes yellow; claws black.
In very old females the general colour of the plumage is
lighter and the irides become bright yellow. Young females
have the whole of the under parts from the throat to the
under tail-coverts of a uniform reddish-bay, without any of
the darker-coloured streaks observable in the adults.
This species exhibits not unfrequently a dark brown or
almost black variety, which is the origin of the Circus ater
of Vieillot, and has several times been killed in this country.
The intensity of the tint varies in individuals. Sometimes
the male is of a very dark smoky-grey, and the female of a
deep chocolate-brown with a beautiful purple gloss. Mr.
Newcome possesses an adult dark-coloured female shot fiom
the nest.
Having thus described the last of the British Falconidce,
it may be desirable, before quitting this group, to exhibit
a representation of the breast-bone, or sternum, of one of
the types of the Family, in order to shew in the form and
magnitude of the principal bone, and the other bones attached
to it, the power of flight possessed hy these birds, of which
the breast-bone affords good comparative indication.
The power of flight is one of the decided characteristics
of the organization of the Class of Birds ; and the Family
of the Falconidce includes some of those birds which appear
to possess this power in the highest degree of perfection.