and so?ne other British Birds. 319 



was yet similar, excepting about the sides of the face, which 

 were paler in colour in the former, in which also the hides 

 were of a dull yellow, somewhat mottled, whereas in the lat- 

 ter they still continued dark. 



The shyness of these hawks had occasioned their breaking 

 most of their larger feathers, although confined in a place ten. 

 feet iii length by five in width ; and as their regular moulting 

 season was advancing, they were turned into a garden sur- 

 rounded by a wall, where, after some time, the female died 

 of the cramp in her legs. 



The male had about the 20th of Julv thrown out many of 

 the new feathers naturally, especially the greater coverts of 

 the wings, and a few gray feathers in different parts of the 

 body. On the 20th of August, the greater part of the quill 

 and tail feathers were grown to their full length, and a gra- 

 dual increase of gray feathers appeared on most other parts : 

 the eyes also became more orange, but it was not till the 

 middle of October that it had attained that state which 

 made ii desirable to retain, as an existing fact of the change; 

 it was then killed, and is now in my museum. Tn this state 

 the plumage of the Ringtail or female still remains about the 

 neck, the smaller coverts of the wings, the thighs, and 

 part of the belly, intermixed with the male plumage : the top 

 of the head and wreath have also a mixture of the feathers 

 of both sexes : the quills, scapulars, and tail, are complete- 

 ly masculine ; in the last of these there are a few small broken 

 ■bars of cinereous brown on a white ground, in the three 

 outer feathers, the exterior margins cinereous-gray; the six 

 middle feathers are almost wholly gray, and the markings are 

 very obscure beneath. 



Having-oy the most .powerful evidence traced this bird. 

 - from the egg to that state approaching maturity, which so* 

 clearly and satisfactorily proves that Falco cyaneus and py- 

 gurgus are actually of the same species, two queries arise out 

 of the observations of different authors. It has been re- 

 marked by Doctor Latham, that no author has mentioned 

 the Hen Harrier as a bird of the American continent. Do 

 the females only migrate to those particular parts where they 

 have been observed,, -after the breeding season ; or is not the 



trans* 



