Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/524

render it easy to distinguish the two groups when taken in the hand. All the species also have a more or less well-developed ruff or frill of small thickset feathers surrounding the lower part of the head, nearly like that seen in owls, ant accordingly many systematists consider that the genus Circus, though undoubtedly belonging to the Falconide, connects that Family with the Striges. No osteological affinity, however, can be established between the Harriers aud any section of the Owls, and the superficial resemblance will have to be explained in some other way. Harriers are found almost all over the world,^[1] and fifteen species are recognized by Mr Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. Museum, 1. pp. 5J-73). In most if not all the Harriers the sexes differ greatly in colour, so much so that for a long while the mules and females of one of the commonest and best known, the C. cyaneus above mentioned, were thought tu be distinct species, and were or still are called in various European languages by different names. The error was maintained with the greater persistency since the young males, far more abundant than the adults, wear much the same plumage as their mother, and it was not until after Montagu’s observations were published et the beginning of the present century that the “Ringtail,” as she was called (the Fulco pygargus of Linneus), was generally adinitted to be the female of the “ Hen-Harrier.” But this was not Montagu’s only good service as regards this genus. H3 proved the hitherto unexpected existence of a secon: species,^[2] subject to the same diversity of plumage. This was called by him the Ash-coloured Falcon, but it now generally bears his name, and is known as Montagu’s Harrier, C. cineraceus. In habits it is very similar to the Hen-Harrier, but it has longer wings, and its range is not so northerly, for while the Hen-Harrier extends to Lapland, Montagu’s is but very rare in Scotland, though in the south of England it is the most common species. Harriers indeed in the British Islands are rapidly becoming things of the past. Their nests are easily found, and the birds when nesting are easily destroyed. In the south-east of Europe, reaching also to the Cape of Good Hope and to India, there is a fourth species, the C. swainsont of some writers, the C. pallidus of others. In North America C. cyaneus is represented by a kindred form, C. hudsonius, usually regarded as a good species, the adult male of which is always to be recognized by its rufous markings beneath, in which character it rather resembles C. cineraceus, but it has not the long wings of that species. South America has in C. cinereus another representative form, while China, India, and Australia possess mmore of this type. Thus there is a section in which the males have a strongly contrasted black and grey plumage, and finally there is a group of larger forms allied to the European C. ceruginosus, wherein a grey dress is less often attained, of which the South African C. ranivorus and the New Zealand C. gouldi are examples.

(a. n.)

HARRINGTON, James (1611–1677), a distinguished writer on the philosophy of government, was sprung from an old family in Rutlandshire, and was born in January 1611. He received a careful education, and in his eigh- teenth year entered Trinity College, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner. One of his tutors was the famous Chilling- worth. At the close of his university career he set out to travel on the Continent, and proceeded first to Holland, where he spent several years. He served some time in the Dutch army, and enjoyed the friendship both of the prince of Orange and of the queen of Bohemia. After visiting France and Italy, he returned to England and lived in retirement till 1646, when he was named one of the grooms of the bed-chamber to Charles I, who was at that time being conveyed south from Newcastle as prisoner of the parliament. Though republican in his ideas, Harrington secured the confidence and respect of the king, who showed strong personal regard for him. On the removal of Charles to the Isle of Wight, Harrington was prevented from accompanying him, and was for a short time put in confine- ment because he would not swear to refuse assistance to the king should he attempt to escape. Ilis feelings of respect led him also to accompany Charles to the scatluld in the following year.

After Charles's death Harrington once more withdrew into private life and devoted his time to the composition of his work on the theory of the state, afterwards published under the title of Oceana. The nature of his views was well known, and, as they pleased neither republicans nor royalists, the work was naturally regarded with some suspicion, By order of Cromwell the Occana was scized when passing through the press. Harrington, however, managed to secure the favour of the Pretector’s favourite daughter, Mrs Claypole ; the work was restored tv him, and appeared in 1656, dedicated to Cromwell. The views embodied in Oceana, particularly that bearing on vote by ballot and rotation of magistrates and legislators, Harrington and others who formed a club called the ‘ T'o'a” endeavoured to push practically, but with no success. In December 1661, by order of Charles IT., Harrington was arrested on a charge of conspiracy, and though there seem to have becn no sufficient grounds for the accusation, he was thrown into prison. Despite his repeated request no public trial could be obtained, and when at length he endeavoured to protect Limself by claiming the right of habeas corpus, he was secretly removed to a small island off Plymouth. There his health completely gave way, and his mind appeared to be affected. By careful treatment he was restored to bodily vigour, but it is supposed that his mind never recovered its tone. After his release he married,—at what date does not seem to be precisely known. He died September 11, 1677.

Harrington’s books consist of the Oceana, and of papers, pamphlets, aphorisms, even treatises, in support and defence of the Oceana. The Oceana is not a philosophical romance ; it is a hard, prolix, and in many respects heavy exposition of a new method for constituting civil society. The details are elaborated with infinite care, even the salaries of officials being computed, but the important or leading ideas in the book are two in number, with two practical precepts following from them. The first is that the determinirg element of power in a state is property generally, property in land in particular; the second is that the executive power ought not to be vested for any considerable length of time in the hands of the same men or class of men. As practical corollary to his first proposition Harrington recom- mends an agrarian law, limiting the portion of land held to that yielding a revenue of £2000, and consequently insisting on particular modes of distributing landed pro- perty. As a practical maxim following from the second he lays down the rule of rotation by ballot. A third part of the executive, senate, or whatever it might be, are voted ont by ballot every year (not being capable of being elected again for three years). Harrington explains very carefully how the state and its governing parts are to be constituted by his scheme, and Oceana undoubtedly contains many valuable ideas. Asa book, however, it is irretrievably dull.

His Works were edited by Toland in 1700; Toland’s edition, with additions by Birch, appeared in 1747, and again in 1771.

HARRINGTON, Sir John. See Harington.

 

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1. The distribution of the different species is rather curious, while the range of some is exceedingly wide,—one, C. maillardi, seems to be limited to the island of Réunion (Bourbon).
2. A singular mistake, which has lately been productive of further error, was made by Albin, who drew his figure (//ist. Birds, ii., pl. 5) from a specimen of one species, and coloured it from a specimen of the other.