APPENDIX J. 153 



mark of a darker brown and a white tip ; the tail is a rather 

 pale brown, with four very distinct cross bars of dark brown ; 

 the upper breast is pure white, except on the centres of the 

 feathers, which are marked with brown sagittate spots of 

 various sizes, but mostly large in proportion to the size of the 

 feather ; the lower breast is not yet moulted, and is a rather 

 pale faded brown ; the abdomen is white, mingled with 

 brown, the latter being apparently a remnant of unmoulted 

 plumage ; the under wing-coverts and the under tail-coverts 

 are white, transversely barred with brown/ ^ 



This bird^s moult was suspended, soon after the date of the 

 above memorandum, before it was completed, and it was not 

 resumed till May 1883 ; it was still progressing in July, but I 

 then noted that there was no further change of colour except 

 as regards the following points — the brown mark adjacent to 

 the eye had disappeared ; some of the white feathers on the 

 cheek had acquired dark centres; some new feathers had 

 appeared amongst the median wing-coverts, and were dark 

 brown tipped with white; the portion of the secondaries 

 between the dark bars became decidedly tinged with grey, 

 the flanks and abdomen white, with broad transverse bars 

 of brown ; the irides continued to be of a very pale straw- 

 colour, with an extremely slight tinge of green. Between 

 July 1883 and January 1884 the moult progressed very 

 slowly and without producing any noticeable change of 

 colouring; the irides, however, have become, during the 

 interval, rather more decidedly yellow; no tinge of grey 

 has as yet appeared either on the lores or elsewhere on the 

 head. The bird appears very healthy, and has been fed on 

 rats and mice, small birds, sparrows' eggs, frogs, and wasps' 

 grubs, according to the season. 



