Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 157 



vening rufous plumage is much paler in hue and more re- 

 stricted in extent. Some new feathers on the sides of the 

 breast are marked similarly to the corresponding new fea- 

 thers in No. 5 ; but the brown spot upon them is rather larger, 

 and without any tinge of fulvous. Similar spots are also visible 

 on the under tail- coverts ; but these differ from the breast- 

 spots in being divided by the shaft-mark, which is white 

 where it passes through these spots, but brown where it in- 

 tersects the spots on the breast. The irides in this specimen 

 were " bright pale gamboge-yellow." 



(No. 7.) A female shot near Potchefstroom on 30th July 

 is still more advanced. In this specimen the upper surface is 

 as in No. 6, but with a larger proportion of new dark brown 

 feathers ; the interspaces between the dark transverse bars 

 on the secondaries are tinged with deep grey, as in the adult ; 

 on the upper breast indications of the commencement of the 

 adult plastron are visible — brown feathers with white bases, 

 but with the brown not so dark as in the adult bird, being 

 massed on the sides of the breast : the two patches of brown 

 thus arranged on either side of the upper breast are divided 

 by a longitudinal interval in which the feathers are white, 

 with only a brown central spot, formed by the widening of 

 the dark shaft-mark. The transverse brown spots on the white 

 ground of the lower breast and abdomen are visible, especially 

 on the former, but are more or less pale, and apparently 

 fading out ; on the flanks and tibiae they are darker, and, 

 with the exception of those on the upper portion of the flanks, 

 are divided by a white shaft-mark. The axillaries are, for the 

 most part, wholly white; but some of them are slightly spotted 

 with brown. The least under wing-coverts are white, with a 

 brown centre to each feather, the remainder of the wing-lining 

 being entirely white, as are also the under tail-coverts. The 

 irides in this specimen, as noted by Mr. Ayres, were '' light 

 gamboge-yellow." 



(No. 8.) Another female shot near Potchefstroom, in 

 August, may be said to have attained the adult plumage, 

 with the following exceptions, viz. : — A few of the fea- 

 thers in the centre of the plastron have not only the bases 



