88 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



the various families of birds, and how insensible 

 are the transitions from one genus to another. 

 Thus, the short-eared owl (Otus brachyotos) 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 ra- 

 pidity of its flight, the boldness of its 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 Montagui), 

 the second is by far the most generally distributed, 

 although all three must now be considered compa- 

 ratively 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 refer- 

 rible to age and sex, might easily have induced a 

 belief in the existence of many species, at a period 

 when this portion of British Ornithology had been 

 but little investigated. The males of the two last 

 named, after the first autumnal moult, gradually 

 assume the adult dress, which appears to be at 

 least three years in arriving at perfection ; the 

 upper parts being then generally of a bluish gray, 



