356 Mr. J. H. Gurney un additional Species of Birds 



but, I think, did not remain more than a month. I am told that 

 the coolies went with sacks at night and caught numbers on the 

 rocks, at the bluff where they roosted. 



The sexes in this species do not differ in size or plumage. 



[The following notes and remarks relate to species which have 

 been included in my previous lists of Natal birds. — J. H. G.] 



Spizaetus spilogaster, Du Bus. Spizaetus zonurus, Miiller. 

 Spizaetus ayresii, Gurney. Ayres's Hawk-Eagle. 



[The Natal department of the International Exhibition of 

 1862 contained an adult, or nearly adult, male of Spizaetus 

 spilogaster, which was subsequently presented to the Norwich 

 Museum, through the liberality of my friend Dr. R. J. Mann, 

 of Natal. This specimen has a small occipital crest, which is 

 certainly but seldom developed in the ordinary plumage of this 

 species, but which much resembles that of the individual de- 

 scribed by me in the ' Ibis ' (1862, p. 150) under the name of 

 Spizaetus ayresii. I have subsequently seen three other speci- 

 mens of this Hawk-Eagle, in different stages of plumage, pro- 

 cured by the late Dr. Dickinson in the Zambesi country, and de- 

 scribed by Dr. Sclater in the present Number of the ' Ibis.' A 

 comparison of these specimens with the two Natal birds in the 

 Norwich Museum has convinced me that the bird named by 

 me Spizaetus ayresii is in reality the immature state of Spizaetus 

 spilogaster-, and that the presence or absence of an occipital 

 crest is simply accidental in individuals of this species, and does 

 not denote a specific distinction. 



This Hawk-Eagle is evidently very closely allied to the Bonelli's 

 Eagle, Nisaetus fasciatus (Vieillot), to which it bears an especial 

 resemblance in the character of the changes of its plumage, from 

 the immature to the adult state. — J. H. G.] 



AviciDA VERREAUXii, Lafr. South African Pern. 



Female adult. Iris light yellow ; bill black ; under mandible 

 bluish at the base, cere Ught yellow; tarsi and feet yellow. 

 Stomach contained remains of a green Mantis, of locusts, and 

 of a Chameleon. 



[This species was included by me in a former list of Natal 



