102 falconid^:. 



ground at some distance, but could not observe whether it 

 was preparing a nest or not. At the same time, we noticed 

 a large brown Hawk floating over another piece of furze, at 

 a little distance. This had much the appearance of a Ring- 

 tail, but appeared longer in the wings, which gave a suspicion 

 that these were actually the two sexes of the ash-coloured 

 Falcon, and which seems to be confirmed by subsequent 

 events.'" 



Shortly afterwards, he says, " in the month of July, in the 

 same year, a nest was discovered on the ground amongst furze, 

 containing three young birds and an addled egg^ which last 

 was white. Two of the young Hawks continued alive till the 

 summer of the following year, and were evidently, from their 

 disproportionate size, of different sexes. About the begin- 

 ning of August they began to moult, plainly discovering that 

 they were not Hen Harriers, as before supposed, but actually 

 the birds in question. Unfortunately, at this most inter- 

 esting conjuncture, the female made her escape, before she 

 had nearly completed her mature plumage, and the only part 

 we could obtain of her was an outer feather of the tail that 

 had been broken off, and was evidently of recent growth, by 

 not being completely expanded at the base. This feather 

 had five bars of ferruginous, with alternate rufous-white on 

 both webs ; towards the end the dark bars inclined to dusky. 

 In the latter end of November, the male was, by some acci- 

 dent, killed in the middle of his moulting, when assuming 

 the feathers of maturity, and was in a mutilated state sent to 

 us for examination, the description of which is as follows. 

 The head, neck, part of the scapulars, and most of the lesser 

 coverts of the wings, still possess the nestling brown feathers, 

 which are similar to those of the unmatured male Hen Harrier, 

 or the adult Ringtail ; but the ferruginous-brown is brighter, 

 and more inclining to dull orange : all the smaller feathers 

 upon the under part of the wings are bright ferruginous, differ- 



