BLUE HAWK, OR HEN-HARRIER. 243 



has passed under his own eyes, however extraordinary it may seem, 

 from the inference he draws from it. Thus, to apply the principle in 

 this instance, Latham might have reconciled the fact of males and 

 females being found in the plumage of the Ring-tail, with the others, 

 that no females were ever found under the dress of the Hen-Harrier, 

 and that some Ring-tails would gradually change into Hen-Harriers. 



Whether or not the Marsh-Hawk of America was the same with the 

 Ring-tail of Europe, Wilson would not take upon himself to pronounce, 

 as he has left to his bird the distinctive name of Falco uliginosus ; 

 though he positively states, that in his opinion they are but one species, 

 and even rejects as false, and not existing, the only character on which 

 the specific distinction was based, that of the American having " strong, 

 thick, and short legs," instead of having them long and slender. For 

 want of opportunity however of actually comparing specimens from 

 both continents, he could choose no other course than the one he has 

 followed ; and so great appears to have been the deference of ornitholo- 

 gists for this extraordinary man, that while they have unhesitatingly 

 quoted as synonymous with the European Hen-Harrier, the African 

 specimens described by Le Vaillant, and even the various nominal 

 species created or adopted by Vieillot as North American, the Falco 

 uliginosus of former authors has been respected, probably as the Marsh- 

 Hawk of Wilson ! But the latter is not more than the others entitled 

 to be admitted as distinct, being merely the present in its youthful 

 dress. 



The Hen-Harrier belongs to the subgenus Circus, which in English 

 we shall call Harrier, the name of Buzzard being appropriated to the 

 Buteones. Though perfectly well marked in the typical species, such 

 as this, the group to w^hich our bird belongs passes insensibly into others, 

 but especially into that called Buteo, some even of the North American 

 epecies being intermediate between them. Whenever the groups of 

 Falcons shall be elevated to the rank of genera, it will perhaps be found 

 expedient to unite Circus and Buteo, as they do not differ much more 

 from each other than our two sections of Hawks ; those with long and 

 slender legs, and those with short stout legs, Astur and Sparvius of 

 authors, the line of demarcation being quite as difficult to be drawn. 



The Harriers are distinguished in their tribe by their weak, much 

 compressed bill, destitute of a tooth or sharp process, but with a strongly 

 marked lobe; their short and bristly cere; their long, slender, and 

 scutellated tarsi ; their slender toes, of which the outer are connected 

 at base by a membrane ; their nails, subequal, weak, channelled beneath, 

 much incurved, and extremely sharp : a very remarkable characteristic 

 is exhibited in their long wings, subequal to the tail, which is large, and 

 even, or slightly rounded at tip : their first quill is very short, always 

 shorter than the fifth, and the third or fourth is the longest. Their 



