allid Harrier

Circus macrourus

Beak

—

Feet

—

Crest

No crest

Widespread winter visitor; unrecorded in parts of northeast and W Pakistan. Slim-winged andfi ne-bodied, with buoyant flight. Folded wings fall short of tail-tip, and legs longer than on Montagu ' s. Male has pale grey upperparts, dark wedge on primaries, very pale grey head and underbody, and la cks black secondary bars. Immature male may show rusty breast-band and juvenile facial markings. Female has distinctive underwing pattern: pale primaries, irregularly barred and lacking dark trailing edge, contrast with darker secondaries which have pale bands narrower than on female Montagu'sa ndtapering towards body (although first-summer Montagu'smore similar in this respect), and lacks prominent barring on axillaries. Typically, female has stronger head pattern than Montagu's, with more pronounced pale collar, dark ear-coverts and dark eye-stripe, and upperside of flight feathers darker and lacking banding; told from female Hen by narrower wings with more pointed hand, stronger head pattern, and patterning of underside of primaries. Juvenile has unstreaked orange-buff underparts and underwing-coverts; on underwing, primaries evenly barred (lacking pronounced dark fingers), without dark trailing edge, and usually with pale crescent at base; head pattern more pronounced than Montagu's, with narrower white supercilium, more extensive dark ear-covert patch, and broader pale collar contrasting strongly with dark neck sides. Habits like those of Hen Harrier, but lighter on the wing. Open country in plains and foothills: semi-desert, grassy slopes, cultivation, scrub-covered plains, and marshes.