8 
ASH-COLOURED FALCON. 
a trifle cuneiform, the two middle feathers dusky-brown, the rest dark 
ash-colour, palest on the two or three outer feathers, which have their 
inner webs approaching to white ; all except the two middle feathers 
have five equidistant bars on the inner web, taking in the shaft ; these 
bars on the two outer feathers are bay, the rest more or less dusky, with 
a ferruginous tinge on those at the base : legs orange-yellow, rather long 
and slender : claws small, and black. 
The bird from which this description is taken is a male, proved to be 
so by the unerring rule of dissection. He had the feathers behind the 
ears short, but no ruff continued round the head so conspicuous as in 
the hen-harrier. He was in good condition, and in his stomach was 
a sky-lark, and yet his weight was not so much as that of the hen- 
harrier by three or four ounces ; though his length and breadth were 
much superior, by reason of his longer wings and tail. It must also be 
remarked that he cannot be a young bird, as some of the quills are 
moulting ; the first and second feathers of the secondary quills in each 
wing are not full grown, but are of the same colour as the rest, and 
possess the same bars. 
On the 23d of May, in the year 1808, says Montagu, we observed one 
of these birds in South Devon, skimming over a patch of furze very near ; 
and noticed that it repeatedly dropped into the same spot, after having 
pitched on the bare ground at some distance ; but could not observe whe- 
ther it was preparing a nest or not. At the same time we noticed a 
large brown hawk floating over another piece of furze at a little distance. 
This had much the appearance of the ringtail, but appeared longer in the 
wings, which gave a suspicion that these were actually the two sexes 
of the ash-coloured-falcon ; and which seems to be confirmed by subse- 
quent events. 
Mr. Tucker, while looking over our museum, had this bird pointed 
out to him, and was asked if he had ever seen it. To which he re- 
plied that he thought he had, but had probably mistaken it for a variety 
of the hen-harrier. In a short time after Mr. Tucker sent us one of the 
secondary quiU feathers of this bird, which was then in his possession, 
and informed us that both sexes of this species were shot in that summer 
(1808) from the nest, by the gamekeeper of Mr. Templer, of Stover, 
in Devonshire, and that three young ones were also taken at the same 
time. All these had been nailed up against the garden wall, and were 
considered as the hen-harrier, with his female the ringtail, and their 
offspring ; the male of which had been previously taken down by Mr. 
Tucker as a variety of the hen-harrier, before we had pointed out to 
him the distinction. 
