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dent might frustrate my earnest desire of 
bringing the matter to a decisive proof, and 
about the middle of June, I was highly gra- 
tified, by discovering an appearance of the 
new feathers, in the place of those which 
had been plucked out, that clearly evinced 
the smaller bird to be a Hen-harrier and the 
larger a Ring-tail. 
" Thus I had compelled nature to disclose 
her secrets before the appointed time ; for in 
every other respect their plumage was yet 
similar, excepting about the sides of the face, 
which were paler in colour in the former, in 
which also the irides were of a dull yellow, 
somewhat mottled, whereas in the latter they 
still continued dark, 
" The shyness of these hawks had occa- 
sioned their breaking most of their larger 
feathers, although in a place ten feet in 
length by five in width ; and as their regular 
moulting season was advancing, they were 
turned into a garden surrounded by a wall, 
where, after some time, the female died of 
the cramp in her legs. 
" The male had about the 20th of July 
thrown out many of the new feathers natu- 
