Head and all the upper surface rich dark brown; the feathers at the back of the neck margined with reddish buff; face light reddish brown; facial disc buffy white, with a dark stripe down the centre of each feather; all the under surface buffy white, which is deepest on the lower part of the abdomen and thighs, each feather with a streak of brown down the centre; upper tail-coverts and base of the tail-feathers white; remaining length of the tail-feathers brownish grey; irides reddish orange; eyelash and cere pale yellow; bill dark brown, becoming light blue at the base; tarsi greenish white; feet bright orange; claws dark brown.
The female differs in being of a larger size and of a darker brown, particularly on the under surface, and in having the tail of a deeper tint and obscurely barred.
The figures are about two-thirds of the natural size.
CIRCUS JARDINII: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del. et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.
CIRCUS JARDINII, Gould.
Jardine’s Harrier.
Circus Jardinii, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 141; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.
This very beautiful Harrier, which is distinguished from every other species of the genus at present known by the spotted character of its plumage, is plentifully dispersed over every portion of New South Wales, wherever localities favourable to the existence of the Harrier tribe occur, such as extensive plains, wastes, and luxuriant grassy flats between the hills in mountainous districts. The extent of its range over the Australian continent has not yet been ascertained, and I have never observed it from any other portion of the country than that mentioned above, nor do specimens occur in collections formed in other parts.
In the third part of my “Synopsis of the Birds of Australia,” I expressed an opinion that the Circus assimilis of Messrs. Jardine and Selby’s “Illustrations of Ornithology” was merely the young of the present species: this opinion, however, my visit to Australia proved to be erroneous; the Circus assimilis, as will be seen on reference to the preceding plate, proving to be entirely distinct. The present noble bird has been named in honour of Sir William Jardine, Bart., one of the authors of the work above mentioned; and which, as well as his other valuable publications connected with the science of ornithology, are well known to every zoologist.
To describe the economy of the Jardine’s Harrier would be merely to repeat what has been said respecting that of the former species. Like the other members of the genus, it flies lazily over the surface of the plains, intently seeking for lizards, snakes, small quadrupeds and birds; and when not pressed by hunger, reposes on some dried stick, elevated knoll, or stone, from which it can survey all around. Although I observed this species in all parts of the Hunter in summer, when others of the Falconidæ were breeding, I did not succeed in procuring its eggs, or obtain any satisfactory information respecting its nidification; in all probability its nest is constructed on or near the ground, on the scrubby crowns of the low, open, sterile hills that border the plains.