83 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



nity between the various families of birds^ and 

 how insensible are the transitions from one genus 

 to another. Thus, the short-eared owl (Otus hra- 

 diyotos) — Strix accipitrina of earlier authors — 

 appears in some respects more like a hawk than 

 an owl, — as in the incomplete development of the 

 facial disk, the rapidity of its flight, the boldness 

 of itvS attack, and its diurnal habits ; while the 

 hen harrier {Circus cyaneus) — Falco cyaneus of 

 Linnaeus — seems to be as nearly allied to the 

 owls. 



Of the three species of Circus, the marsh har- 

 rier or moor buzzard (Circus ceruginosus), the 

 hen harrier, and Montagu's harrier (Circus Mon- 

 tagui), the second is by far the most general)}^ 

 distributed, although all three must now be con- 

 sidered comparatively rare in Sussex, even on the 

 heather-clad Downs, exposed moors, and marshy 

 commons where they once abounded. 



The great variety of plumage presented by 

 birds of this genus, now clearly ascertained to be 

 referrible to age and sex, might easily have in- 

 duced a belief in the existence of many species, 

 at a period when this portion of British Orni- 

 tholog}^ had been but little investigated. The 

 males of the two last nauied, after the first au- 

 tumnal moult, gradually assume the adult dress, 

 which appears to be at least three years in arriv- 



