various authors ? I have alfo had my doubts about it, from ob-
ferving a Ringtail, which had the back changing to a blueifh lead-
colour j but what has ftrengthened me in the opinion of its being
fo, is an obfervation o f a very learned naturalift *, to the following
purport. “ The Ringtail is extremely common in Rujfia
“ as well as Sibiria : in more temperate and open countries is
“ certainly not to be diftinguilhed from the Henharrier: both are
K found as far as the Lake Baikalj and I have obferved, more
“ than once, birds that were changing colours, and getting the
" white feathers. The truth is, that the firft year all are dark-
coloured, very differently variegated ; but at thefecond change
" ° f feathers, chiefly the males grow whitilh; and fuch are the au-
“ gural birds of the Monguls and Calmucs
Here then feems the difficulty folved, and may perhaps ferve
to reconcile the contrarieties o f opinion hitherto entertained on
this fubjecft. That Ringtails have turned out males, on difleftion,
has been clearly proved, certainly owing to fuch having been
young birds before their change o f plumage but I do not hear of
a Angle Henharrier having been met with of the oppofite fe x ; till
that circumftance fhall happen, may we not fairly conclude, that
both the one and the other have at firft the Ringtail plumage, and
that in a feries o f years, more or lefs, the male gains the lead-
colour, approaching neareft to white in proportion to its a g e ;
and that, notwithftanding the females get paler by age alfo, yet
they are never without fome mixture of ferruginous ? It may indeed
require fome time, though this matter may be afcertained by
taking the young birds from the neft, keeping them for a requi-
* Dr .Pallas, in his manufcript catalogue of birds of the Ruffian empire, fur-
nilhed to me by Mr, Pennant.
fite
fite number o f years; and till this is done, the faft may be by
fome ftill held in doubt.
One thing however fhould not efcape notice, which is, that no
author, which has fallen under my obfervation, mentions the Henharrier
as a bird o f the American continent, or ifles adjacent,
though the Ringtail and its varieties are common throughout.
That the ferruginous brown colour may not change, in the warmer
climates, as Carolina, and parts more fouthward, as "Jamaica, &c.
is not furprifing; but towards the north, as at Hudfon’s Bay, where
it is frequently feen in other birds, appears Angular. Le t this
be confidered, and reafons given why fuch change fhould happen
in Great-Britain, and various parts o f the old continent, and not
in the new ■, for my part I know o f none.
The reader will, it is to be hoped, pardon this long digreffion,
as it is meant to clear up a point hitherto held in controverfy.. The
above hints may urge others to make further obfervations, in
order to obtain a certainty in this; and may at the fame time
lead us to difcriminate other birds, fuppofed of different fpecies,
perhaps proving, on a more intimate acquaintance, to be merely
owing to oppofition of fex.
Keltril, Gen. Syn. i. p, 94.. N° 79.—-ArSl. Zool. ii. p. 226. M. 79.
Falco tinnunculus, Brun. N° 4, 5.— Muller, N° 65.— Faun. Aràg. N? 4. **“ KESTRII. F.
'T 'H I S fpecies is not uncommon in many parts o f the continent
o f Europe. The female faid to lay four eggs *, o f a pale ferruginous
colour, marked with many irregular fpots of a deeper
hue f .
* Hiß. tie Lyon, i. p. 207.
S u P P L . E
f Portland Muf,
Red