96 FALCONID.E. 



inch four lines in breadth. The male sits occasionally dur- 

 ing the period of incubation, and has been shot on the nest. 

 The young are hatched early in June, and are at first cover- 

 ed with white down. 



The Hen Harrier, though nowhere very numerous, is 

 pretty generally distributed in England, Ireland, and Scot- 

 land. It inhabits the Hebrides and Orkneys, remaining in 

 those northern islands all the w^inter. It appears to be less 

 perfectly known in Scandinavia ; but has been killed on some 

 of the islands in the Baltic. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoo- 

 logy, says it is common in the open and temperate parts of 

 Russia and Siberia, and extends as far as Lake Baikal. 

 The Hen Harrier also inhabits Germany, France, Holland, 

 Italy, Turkey, and the Morea ; it was obtained at Smyrna 

 by Mr. Strickland, and at Trcbizond by K. E. Abbot, Esq. 

 Le Vaillant found it in Africa, and describes it under the 

 name of Le Busard Grenouillard. Colonel Sykes and 

 Major Franklin include the Falco cyaneus of authors in 

 their catalogues of the Birds of the Dukhun, and other parts 

 of India ; and M. Temminck says it is also a native of 

 Japan. 



Whether the Hen Harrier of North America be really 

 identical with the Hen Harrier of Europe, is a point that 

 is still debated. M. Temminck considers the specimens 

 from Africa, and also those of North America, to be iden- 

 tical with those of Europe. Wilson the Ornithologist, the 

 Prince of Musignano, — who has added four parts to the 

 American Ornithology of Wilson, uniform in size and ap- 

 pearance with the original work, — and Mr. Audubon, con- 

 sider the Hen Harrier of North America the same as that of 

 Europe. Dr. Richardson and Mr. Swainson, appear to 

 have some doubts on this point, but have adopted the no- 

 menclature and synonymes of the European Hen Harrier ; 

 and indeed there is but slight difference in the markings of 



