103 
FALCO CINERACEUS, 
ASH-COLOURED FALCON. 
This bird measures eighteen inches in 
length, three feet eight inches and a half in 
breadth, and weighs about nine ounces and 
three-quarters* 
The female builds its nest near the ground, 
amongst furze, &c wherein it deposits four 
white eggs. 
The Ash-coloured Falcon was first descri- 
bed as a distinct species by that indefatiga- 
ble ornithologist, G. Montagu, Esq. from 
a specimen sent to him from Wiltshire. He 
says that at first sight it might readily be 
mistaken for the Hen Harrier, in the state of 
changing its plumage from theRing-tail ; "but 
the want of the wreath of short feathers round 
the head, always conspicuous in both sexes 
of that bird, at once distinguishes it ; the size 
is also much inferior, though the tail is full as 
long, and the wings much longer. And as 
an additional mark of distinction, the wings^ 
when closed, reach beyond the extremity of 
the tail, which in the Hen Harrier are far 
