BLUE HAWK, OR HEN-HARRIER. 
397 
the dress of the hen-harrier, and that some ring-tails would 
gradually change into hen-harriers. 
Whether or not the marsh-hawk of America was the same 
with the ring-tail of Europe, Wilson would not take upon 
himself to pronounce, as he has left to his bird the distinctive 
name of Falco uliginosus ; though he positively states, that, in 
his opinion, they are but one species, and even rejects as false, 
and not existing, the only character on which the specific dis- 
tinction was based, that of the American having strong, thick, 
and short legs,” instead of having them long and slender. For 
want of opportunity, however, of actually comparing specimens 
from both continents, he could choose no other course than the 
one he has followed; and so great appears to have been the 
deference of ornithologists for this extraordinary man, that, 
while they have unhesitatingly quoted as synonymous with the 
European hen-harrier the African specimens described by Le 
Vaillant, and even the various nominal species created or 
adopted by Vieillot as North American, the Falco uliginosus 
of former authors has been respected, probably, as the marsh- 
hawk of Wilson ! But the latter is not, more than the others, 
entitled to be admitted as distinct, being merely the present in 
its youthful dress. 
The hen-harrier belongs to the subgenus Circus^ which in 
English we shall call harrier, the name of buzzard being ap- 
propriated to the Buteones. Though perfectly well marked in 
the typical species, such as this, the group to which our bird 
belongs passes insensibly into others, but especially into that 
called Buteo^ some even of the North American species being 
intermediate between them. Whenever the groups of falcons 
shall be elevated to the rank of genera, it will perhaps be found 
expedient to unite circus and huteo, as they do not differ much 
more from each other than our two sections of hawks ; those 
with long and slender legs, and those with short stout legs, 
Astur and Sparvius of authors, the line of demarcation being 
quite as difficult to be drawn. 
