228 VABIETY OF THE HAWK. 



claws; and, if so, its identity with the Sparrow-Hawk is at once, mejudiee, 

 indicated by the length of the middle toe, and corroborated by the short 

 length of the wings. That the comparative length of the quill-feathers is 

 not an unerring characteristic, especially in this species and some others, is 

 thus referred to in the account of the Sparrow-Hawk, in my " History of 

 British Birds," vol. I, p. 153 : " In some specimens the fourth quill is the 

 longest, the fifth almost as long ; in others, these relative lengths are trans- 

 posed ; shewing, as pointed out by me (the original observer of the fact in 

 another bird being tlie late Mr. Sweeting) some years ago, in The Natural- 

 ist, that no distinctive character ought to be considered as certainly estab- 

 lished from the length of the quill-feathers of the wing." So also in my 

 account of the Hen-Harrier, p. 166 : " Mr. Yarrell quotes in his work an ob- 

 servation which I had recorded, some years before, in my magazine. The 

 Naturalist, as to the fourth quill-feather in the female being the longest, and 

 the third in the male. He suggests that, in such cases, the birds may have 

 been killed in autumn, before the ultimate relative length of the feathers 

 has been gained. The question, however, will be a puzzling one, why one 

 feather should grow faster than another ; who shall decide ? A difficulty is 

 certainly put in the way of founding specific distinctions on the relative 

 length of the quill-feathers, as I have already pointed out in the case of the 

 Sparrow-Hawk, and shall have occasion to do in that of the Snowy Owl." 

 Thus also in the account of the last-named bird, p. 198 : " Primaries also 

 white ; the first is sometimes longer than the fifth, but often shorter." 



As to the number of the scutellai on the tarsi or the toes, these are still 

 less to be relied on as distinctive specific signs. I had occasion to write as 

 follows in my account of the Erne, p. 17 : " The middle toe has eight long 

 scales, the outer one five, and the inner and hinder ones four each. Another 

 description assigns to the first and second toes three, to the third twelve, 

 and to the fourth six. Another describes the middle toe as having sixteen, 

 on the side or hind toes six each. And, again, another gives thirteen to the 

 middle one ; so that it seems to me pretty certain, that no distinctive char- 

 acter is to be derived from their number; age may very possibly have some- 

 thing to do with it." 



It is to be observed further, that the basal web extends, in the bird figured, 

 between the third and fourth toes, as in the Sparrow-Hawk. 



White and other varieties of Hawks are not extremely rare. Thus, in the 

 account of the Marsh-Harrier, I wrote, "Latham describes a specimen of 

 this bird as of a uniform brown, with a tinge of dust colour ; Montagu, one 

 which had the head, some of the wing-coverts, and the four first quill-feathers, 

 white ; Selby, one which had the four quill-feathers, throat, part of the wing, 

 and the outer tail-feathers, white ; and the Rev. Leonard Jenyns, one of 

 which the lower half of the breast was white ; and others, spotted with white 

 in various ways, — some have the upper part of the breast, and others part of 



