248 



HEN HARRIER. 



markings ; the exterior webs of all are grey, and not the least appear- 

 ance of any bars ; vent, upper and under tail coverts, pure white; legs 

 long, slender, yellow. 



In the bird now before us the wings, when closed, do not reach to 

 the end of the tail by two inches ; the first feather very short, the third 

 and fourth the longest, and nearly the same length. Another weighed 

 twelve ounces ; length eighteen inches. This is very like the first 

 described, but rather inclined to brown on the scapulars ; and the tail 

 feathers, all except the middle ones, barred on the inner webs more or 

 less ; the second and third feathers, from the outside, a little barred on 

 the outer web near the shafts. In another specimen the breast was 

 streaked with dusky, and several of the smaller coverts of the wings 

 were ferruginous like the female ; so that this part seems to be the last 

 that arrives to perfection. 



The Ringtail, or female, weighs about eighteen ounces ; length 

 twenty inches ; bill, cere, irides, and legs, the same as the Hen Harrier. 

 Head and whole upper parts of a deep dusky brown ; the feathers on 

 the head, neck, and wing coverts, are margined more or less with 

 rufous ; round the head a wreath of short feathers, rather lighter in 

 colour; the under parts are pale rufous-brown, with large dusky 

 streaks ; greater quills dusky, with a dash of cinereous on the outer 

 webs ; upper tail coverts white ; tail marked with three or four brown 

 and dusky bars, the lighter bars shaded to rufous on the inner webs, 

 which underneath appear whitish ; the outer feather in some is of a 

 light colour and plain ; the tips of all whitish. 



Various are the opinions concerning these birds. Some authors 

 have ever considered them as male and female ; others have shifted 

 their opinion frequently. That males of the Ringtail are found there 

 is no doubt, two instances of which have come under our inspection 

 lately ; not only evident by their inferior size, but proved by dissection. 

 In one of these specimens there are a few grey feathers on one side of 

 the neck, and on one thigh, which indicates a change to the plumage 

 of the Hen Harrier. But what is extraordinary, the Hen Harrier seems 

 full as plentiful as the Ringtail ; whereas if the young males are a con- 

 siderable time arriving at maturity, we ought to see many more in the 

 brown state. During the whole of one summer, we happened to be 

 situated where we saw several Hen Harriers every day, frequently three 

 or four on wing together ; and yet, from the month of March to Sep- 

 tember, we never saw but one Ringtail. And Dr. Latham remarks, 

 that no author has mentioned the Hen Harrier as a bird of the Ameri- 

 can continent, though the Ringtail and its varieties are common 



