64 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY.
D im en sio n s
Of the young bird No. 6.
Length from the tip of the bill to the, end of the tail
„ of the tarsus . • • • •
of the middle toe' . . •• • •
Inches. Lines
No. 7f another young male, killed a few days earlier at the same place, scarcely
differs a shade in the colour of its plumage, and corresponds minutely with the
preceding in form. The plumage of both is considerably worn.
DESCRIPTION
Of (No. 8.) a yearling female ? killed, in the end of September, at Great Bear Lake, a few days before the departure, of
all the migratory Falcons to the southward.
C olour of the dorsal aspect considerably deeper than in the preceding young male, being
intermediate between umber and blackish browns, and it has a strong bronze reflection. Thd
narrow edgings of the feathers of the crown, and the broader ones of the neck and wing
coverts, are deep shining orange-brown. The quill feathers and their coverts are blackish-
brown ; the upper halves of their inner webs are white and wood-brown, with three cross bars
of dark-brown. The tail coverts are white, edged with pale- yellowish-brown. The two middle
tail feathers have five brownish-black bars, alternating with clove-brown. On the other tail
feathers the bars are separated by reddish-orange spaces. The under plumage presents generally
a deeper orange-coloured brown than the young male above described.
F orm, & c.__The bill differs from all the other seven specimens in its cutting margin being
almost straight, with scarcely an indication of the lobe. The tail is more rounded, from the
perfect state of the individual feathers. The tarsus has fourteen scutelli anteriorly; but its
upper half posteriorly is reticulated by smaller scales. The third quill feather is the longest;
the fourth is scarcely perceptibly shorter; the second and fifth are about an inch shorter; the
sixth is two inches shorter than the fifth; and the first is exactly intermediate between the
sixth and seventh. The whole plumage is in high order; all the feathers rounded at the tips
and soft on the edges.
Inches. Lines.
Lengtlffrom the tip of the hill to the end of the tail
' „ of the tarsus . • • • • ® 9 *
„ of the middle toe . . . • • • ! ^
On Sir John Franklin’s first Expedition I killed a specimen on the shores of
Hudson’s Bay (lat. 57°), on the 23rd of August, which very nearly resembles the
preceding, but, being less spotted, is probably an older female. It corresponds
exactly with Wilson’s figure of the female Marsh Hawk (F. uliginosus), to which
Mr. Sabine referred it. This gentleman makes the following observations upon
it: I On comparison of the specimen of the Marsh Hawk with that of the Ringtail
now before us, the differences are strikingly obvious. The ferruginous colour
of the under parts of the Marsh Hawk bring it nearer to some states of the Ash-
coloured Falcon of Montagu; but in this case also the different colour of the male
forms an obstacle to their identity I subjoin a brief description of that specimen,
taken when it was recently killed.
DESCRIPTION
Of a young female, killed at York Factory, August 23, 1821.
; Colour of the bill bluish-black; cere and tarsi bright-yellow. Plumage of the head
and neck brownish-black, with ferruginous edgings, which are broader on the under surface
of, the neck and narrower on the crown. The.back, scapularies, and wings, are very
dark liver-brown, the lesser coverts being edged with ferruginous. The inner vanes of the
quill feathers are broadly barred with buff-orange. The. tail; coverts are white. The two
middle tail feathers are coloured, like the back,. with obscure bars; the others are barred
alternately with that colour and ferruginous,, and they are all tipped with a soiled brownish-
white. - The whole ventralaspect of the body, the linings of. the wings, the'under tail coverts,
and the thigh feathers, are of an uniform unspotted ferruginous colour. The inner surfaces
of the quill feathers are tinged with buff-yellow, and crossed by irregular bars of blackish-
brown and lead-grey.
pORM>__Catting margin of the upper mandible slightly lobed. The fourth quill feather is
the longest. The taffis long and rather square. When the gullet is distended, a large naked
space appears on each side of the neck, as in the Owls.
D im en sio n s.
Inches. Lines. Length from the tip of the hill to the end of the tail (before it was skinned) 19 6 . Extent from the tip of one wing to the tip of the o ther.................................36 0
Length of the tail • • • • * * ’ * "
From the shortness of the descriptions given by the older writers of their species,
and their neglect of attention to structure, it has now become almost impossible to
ascertain what were the birds they alluded to ; and we have, therefore, confined
ourselves entirely, in our account of the Falconidm, to thpse of which we have
actually seen specimens from the fur-countries. The Prince of Musignano, the
latest writer on American ornithology, enumerates seventeen species of this family
in his Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, published in 1826 ; to which he
has added an eighteenth in his Continuation of Wilson’s Ornithology. Of these,
eleven are described in this work as natives of the fur-countries, together with
* When this passage was written, Mr. Sahine was not aware that the mature male of a bluish-grey colour had been
seen in America, and therefore concluded that the Marsh Hawk was a species peculiar to that continent,