Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitres. 153 



thers of the mantle are already somewhat abraded, though 

 very much less so than in other more advanced young spe- 

 cimens with which I have compared it, and in which these 

 margins are absolutely worn off, the plumage of all the Cir- 

 ca'eti being exceedingly subject to deterioration from use 

 before it is renewed by a change of feathers. The coloration 

 of the example now under consideration agrees with that de- 

 scribed by Mr. Sliarpe as '' young, ^' with the following modi- 

 fications: — The fulvous edgings of the upper parts are relatively 

 broadest on the interscapular feathers and narrowest on the 

 wing-coverts ; the under surface (except the throat) is deci- 

 dedly rufous, and of a darker and richer tinge than in any 

 other fulvous or rufescent specimen that I have examined, 

 and is whole-coloured, except on the tibiae and abdomen, 

 where the white bases of the feathers are apparent, and where 

 most of the feathers are also narrowly tipped with white ; 

 the feathers of the under tail-coverts are rufous, but are simi- 

 larly tipped ; in the wing-linings the smallest under-coverts 

 are rufous, the median the same, mingled w^ith white, and 

 the largest wholly white, except a subterminal transverse bar 

 of pale brown ; the axillaries rufous, barred irregularly with 

 M'hite ; the posterior primaries and secondaries are dark pur- 

 plish brown, narrowly tipped with fulvous, and in both the 

 primaries and the secondaries the upper part of the inner web 

 is white, crossed with two more or less perfect bars of dark 

 brown on the primaries, and four on the secondaries ; the tail 

 is dark brown, paler on the inner webs of all the rectrices, 

 except the central pair, and crossed with five somewhat indis- 

 tinct and ill-defined bars of a still darker brown, the last bar 

 being subterminal, and succeeded by a very narrow whitish 

 tip*. 



* It may be desirable to compare the above particulars with Sir A. 

 Smith's remarks on the young bird, comprised in his original description 

 of Circaetus pectoralis &,t p. 109 of the 1st volume of the ' South-.^frican 

 Quarterly Journal ;' and as that volume is very scarce, I annex a copy of 

 the passage in question : — 



'■' Youny. When it leaves the egg it is covered with a dense white down, 

 which, after a few months, is concealed by an uniform light chestnut, or 

 a dull earthy brown plumage, I have luet with young specimens of this 



