24 
FALCO CYANEUS. 
of Pennant, who had found males of the species said to 
be the female of the Falco cyaneus (hen-harrier,) and 
not reflecting* that these males may be the young*, 
exclaims, “ Authors have never blundered more than in 
making* this bird (the ring*-tail) the same species with 
the last mentioned (hen-harrier ;”) an opinion that he 
was afterwards obliged to recant. In physical science, 
we cannot be too cautious in rejecting facts, nor too 
careful in distinguishing, in an author’s statement, what 
has passed under his own eyes, however extraordinary 
it may seem, from the inference he draws from it. 
Thus, to apply the principle in this instance, Latham 
might have reconciled the fact of males and females 
being found in the plumage of the ring-tail ; with the 
others, that no females were ever found under 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 distinction 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 ornitholo- 
gists 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, pro- 
bably, 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 
