] 42 falconid.t;. 



Young. Brown above, with rufous edgings to tlie feathers ; the 

 nape and hind neck mottled with white, and strongly washed with 

 rufous ; sides of the face dusky brown ; the fore part of the cheeks 

 and an indistinct frontal line whitish, streaked with dark brown ; 

 quills and tail brown, tipped with pale rufous, numerously barred 

 with darker brown, more distinct on the tail, which is slightly 

 shaded with ashy ; the under surface of the wing and taU whitish 

 ashy, shaded with rufous near the base, the cross bars being particu- 

 larly distinct ; under surface of body white, the throat narrowly 

 streaked with dark brown ; the chest marked with broad oval streaks 

 of pale rufous brown ; the breast and flanks barred with the same 

 colour ; the cross bars on the under wing- and taU-coverts less 

 numerous, and of a darker brown ; the flanks very broadly barred 

 with pale rufous. 



Obs. The present species foUows the rule of most other Sparrow- 

 Hawks in the changes of plumage characteristic of the progress to 

 maturity, the longitudinal spots gradually dissolving and widening 

 out into bars, as I have shown to be the case in the common A. 

 v.isus (cf. P. Z. S. 1873, p. 418). 



Adult male. Above bluish ash-colour ; the head and wing-coverts 

 rather darker ; the back of the neck bright vinous red ; nape slightly 

 mottled with white, and the scapulars and secondaries with con- 

 cealed white spots ; quills brown, externally shaded with ash-colour ; 

 the secondaries entirely ashy grey, like the back ; all the quills very 

 numerously banded with dark ashy brown, more distinct underneath, 

 where the interspaces are whitish ; tail-feathers brown, strongly 

 shaded with bluish ashy on the upper surface, which is almost 

 entirely uniform ; the under surface paler and more whitish ashy, 

 with very numerous bars of dark brown on the inner web ; throat 

 buffy white, with remains of ashy transverse markings ; rest of 

 under surface broadly barred with vinous red and ashy white ; the 

 ashy shade on the cross bars more distinct on the flanks ; the thighs 

 very thickly barred, but the abdomen and under tail-coverts less 

 numerously than the breast ; under wing-coverts and axiUaries 

 coloured like the breast ; cere and gape yellowish green ; bUl black, 

 lead-coloured at base ; feet yellow, slightly tinged with green ; iris 

 yellow. Total length 12-3 inches, culmen 0-8, wing 8-3, tail 6-4, 

 tarsus 2'25. 



Adult female. Similar to the male, but larger. Total length 

 14-5 inches, wing 10, tarsus 2-6. 



Hah. The whole of Australia. 



a. 5 fid. sk. Australia. Purchased. 



h, c, d. 5 ad. juv. st. S. Australia. Sir George Grey [P.]. 



c. S ad. st. S. Australia. C. D. E. Fortnum, Esq. [P.l. 



/. 2 juv. St. Adelaide, S. Aus- C. D. E. Fortmim, Esq. [P.J. 



tralia. 



g. PuU. sk. Port Lincoln, S. J. Gould, Esq. 



Australia. 



h, i. S ad. juv. sk. Interior of Aus- Captain Sturt [P.]. 



tralia. 



