394 
BLUE HAWK, OR HEN-HARRIER. 
undergoes according to sex and age, has in each country given 
rise to a nominal species. At the same time, however, that 
names were thus inconsiderately multiplied for one bird, two, 
really distinct, were always confounded together. Analogous 
in their changes, similar in form and plumage, it was reserved 
for the acute and ingenious Montague to point out the differ- 
ence, and establish the two species by permanent characters. 
The new one was called by him Talco cineraceus^ and is known 
by the English name of ash-coloured harrier. It is figured and 
accurately described in all its states of plumage by Vieillot, in 
his Galerie des Oiseaux^ where he has dedicated it to its dis- 
coverer, calling it Circus Montagui ; thus fully apologizing for 
having, in his article Buzzard, of the New dictionary of Natural 
History, declared it to be a state of the other. How far, how- 
ever, it may be considered a compliment to change the name 
given to a species by its discoverer, in order to apply even his 
own to it, we are at a loss to imagine. 
The principal distinctive characters of the two species are 
to be found in the relative length of the wings and tail, and in 
the proportional lengths of the primaries. In the ash-coloured 
harrier, the sixth primary is shorter than the first, the second 
is much longer than the fifth, and the third is the longest ; the 
wings, when closed, reach to the tip of the tail. In the hen- 
harrier, the first primary is shorter than the sixth, the second 
sub-equal to the fifth, and the third equal to the fourth, the 
longest ; the wings closed, not reaching, by more than two 
lowed me to approach openly from a distance of nearly half a mile. They are often 
met with about the sea-coast ; and I have seen one repeatedly come to the stake- 
nets on the Solway Frith, and eat the dead fish that were left there. In hunting, 
they pursue a regular heat or tract for many days together. 1 have repeatedly 
watched a bird for miles, day after day, follow nearly the same line, only diver- 
ging on the appearance of prey ; and so nearly at one time do they pass the dif- 
ferent ranges of their course, that I have placed myself in cover about the time 
they were expected, often with success ; if they returned at all, were never more 
than a quarter of an hour of variance from their usual time. — E d. 
