186 Mr. Montagu's Remarks on Falco cyanens, 



appointed time ; for in every other respect their plumage was 

 yet similar, excepting about the sides of the face, which were 

 paler in colour in the former, in which also the irides were of 

 a dull yellow, somewhat mottled, whereas in the latter they still 

 continued dark. 



The shyness of these hawks had occasioned their breaking 

 most of their larger feathers, although confined in a place ten feet 

 in length by five in width; and as their regular moulting: season was 

 advancing, they were turned into a garden surrounded by a wall, 

 where, after some time, the female died of the cramp in her Ws. 



The male had about the 20th of July thrown out many of the 

 new feathers naturally, especially the greater coverts of the 

 wings, and a few gray feathers in different 'parts of the body. 

 On the 20th of August, the greater part of the quill and tail 

 feathers were grown to their full length, and a gradual increase 

 of gray feathers appeared on most other parts : the eyes also 

 became more orange, but it was not till the middle of October 

 that it had attained that state which made it desirable to retain, 

 as an existing fact of the change; it was then killed, and is now 

 in my museum. In this state the plumage of the Ringtail or 

 female still remains about the neck, the smaller coverts of the 

 wings, the thighs, and part of the belly, intermixed with the 

 male plumage: the top of the head and wreath have also a mix- 

 ture of the feathers of both sexes : the quills, scapulars, and tail, 

 are completely masculine ; in the last of these there are a few 

 small broken bars of cinereous-brown on a white ground, in the 

 three outer feathers, the exterior margins cinereous-oray ; the six 

 middle feathers are almost wholly gray, and the markings are very 

 obscure beneath. 



Having by the most powerful evidence traced this bird from 



the egg to that state approaching maturity, which so clearly and 



4 satisfactorily 



