224 LANNER. Class II. 



wings deep brown, edged with a paler brown : 

 the quil feathers dusky ; the inner webs marked; 

 with oval rust colored spots : the tail was spotted 

 like the wings. The legs short and strong, and of 

 a bluish cast, which Mr. Willughby says, is the 

 character of that bird. We are here to observe, 

 that much caution is to be used in describing 

 the hawk kind, no birds being so liable to change 

 their colors the two or three first years of their 

 lives : inattention to this has caused the num- 

 ber of hawks to be multiplied far beyond the 

 reality. The marks to be attended to as form- 

 ing the characters of the species, are those on the 

 quil feathers and the tail, which do not change. 

 Another reason for the needless increase of the 

 species of this tribe of birds, is owing to the 

 names given to the same kinds in different 

 periods of their lives, by the writers on falconry, 

 which ornithologists have adopted and described 

 as distinct kinds : even Mr. Ray has been ob- 

 liged to copy them. The falcon, the falcon 

 gentil, and the haggard, are made distinct 

 species, whereas they form only one : this is ex- 

 plained by a French author, who wrote in the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century, and ef- 

 fectually clears up this point; speaking of the 

 falcon, he tells us, " S'il est prins en Juin, 

 " Jitilkt et Aoust, vous le nommerez Gentil: 



