FALCON. 93 



The above description is sketched from that in the Lin. Trans. 

 in which it is said to be a male ; it had the feathers behind the ears 

 short, but no niif, as in the Hen Harrier — said to be killed in 

 November. 



Since the abo%e, Col. Montagu informed me, that he had met 

 with the female, young, and ei^^. The female is not very imlike that 

 sex of the Hen-Harrier, but the ferruginous parts are much brighter, 

 and instead of the under being streaked with dusky, they are purely 

 liright ferruginous — he had also a young male in this plumage, which 

 he bred up ; the old female was shot at the nest. The Colonel 

 suspected this to be rather a distinct bird, than the hyemalis, and 

 possibly an undescribed species. — He conjectures, likewise, that the 

 last described may be the one mentioned in the British Zoology, 

 p. 295, as a variety of his Ringtail,* and not unlikely the Falco 

 spadiceus, my Chocolate Falcon, may be this female — also, that 

 the male, having been confounded Avith the Hen-Harrier, has never 

 been described. 



The above are the outlines of the history of the bird in qu^estion, 

 but the reader would do well to peruse what is further advanced 

 conceming it, in the Lin. Trans, and Sup/jlement to the Ornitholo- 

 gical Dictionary. 



* This is described in the Edition of 1812, under the title of Ash-coloured Falcon, with 

 due reference to the source^yet the Falco hyemalis is made synonymous. 



