ASH-COLOURED FALCON. 



11 



nearly white. The whole upper part of the head ferruginous, with 

 small dusky spots; on the hind head, and nape, a broken patch of 

 white ; immediately above and beneath the eye is a pale streak ; the 

 coverts of the ears, extending down to the lower mandible, are dark 

 chocolate-brown : the feathers on the whole upper parts of the body, 

 including the scapulars, are dark chocolate-brown : the quills the same ; 

 the first three or four, pale ferruginous about the middle of the inner 

 web ; the secondary quills the darkest, and all more or less tipped with 

 ferruginous, except on the upper part of the back ; and those on the 

 back of the neck are deeply margined with that colour : the lower part 

 of the rump, and coverts of the tail, white, with a few streaks of bright 

 ferruginous : the lesser coverts of the wings are deeply margined with 

 ferruginous : the chin is dusky-brown : the whole under parts, from 

 chin to vent, including the thighs, under tail-coverts, and under coverts 

 of the wings, bright ferruginous without spot, except the shafts being 

 somewhat darker, appearing on close inspection like fine slender streaks : 

 the tail feathers have five alternate darker, and five paler bars, but the 

 upper ones are nearly obsolete ; these bars on the outer feather are 

 bright ferruginous and white, with one bar near the end darker ; the 

 second is similar, but has the ferruginous bars inclining to chocolate- 

 brown, and the white ones run into pale ferruginous on the outer webs ; 

 the three next become gradually darker, with the pale bars less con- 

 spicuous, and more ferruginous than white ; the two middle feathers 

 have the bars marked only by a shade of difference in colour, and are 

 scarcely defined. 



We have been particular in describing this bird in all its stages, in 

 order that it may no longer be confounded with the hen-harrier or 

 ringtail ; and after what has been said, it is hardly necessary to remark 

 that the bright ferruginous colour of the markings is always sufficient 

 to discriminate this. In the adult male, these bright markings on the 

 under parts of the body, and under the wings, and the black bars on 

 the secondary quills, (independent of the great difference in the tail,) at 

 once point out the distinction from the male hen-harrier. In the 

 female, the uniform ferruginous colour of all the under parts is suffi- 

 cient to discriminate it from the female hen-harrier, besides the 

 colours being much brighter : and in the adolescent or changing state 

 of plumage, the same difference exists in markings. 



That this bird has been long known, and confounded with the hen- 

 harrier, there can be no doubt, a proof of which is evident by the 

 description of what Mr. Pennant supposed a variety of the ringtail. 

 In describing that bird " the breast and belly, (says Mr. Pennant) are 



