•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 
