158 Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



white^ but the sides also ; three feathers about the centre of 

 the upper breast, and one on the abdomen, show a pale brown 

 subterminal mark ; almost all the feathers on the sides of the 

 breast have similar marks, but of a much darker brown ; and 

 on some of these feathers the brown mark is divided by a 

 white shaft-mark ; simikir spots, also thus divided, are con- 

 spicuous on the under tail-coverts ; the axillaries and wing- 

 linings, which are pure white in the fully adult bird, are in 

 this specimen spotted with brown, very much as in No. 7, but 

 the spots are less regularly disposed. 



(No. 9.) A female shot in the same locality on June 25th 

 is in adult plumage, with the exception of two small dark 

 spots still remaining on the white under surface — one on the 

 breast, and the other on the abdomen ; Mr. Ayres notes the 

 colour of the irides in this example as " dark gamboge- 

 yellow.^' 



(No. 10.) Another female, also shot near Potchefstroom in 

 June, is entirely adult, and, according to Mr. Ayres's note, 

 had the irides '' bright yellow." 



(No. 11.) A specimen from the Cape colony, otherwise in 

 fully adult plumage, is remarkable for having the plastron 

 longitudinally divided by white-edged feathers, as is the case 

 in No. 7 ; but in the present specimen the space occupied by 

 this division is considerably narrower than in No. 7, no doubt 

 from the bird being older. I have already noticed the slight 

 remains of a similar division in the plastron of No. 8 ; and it 

 is curious that, though No. 8 is obviously a more immature 

 bird than No. 11, yet in this particular item, but in this 

 only, its change of plumage is more advanced than that of 

 No. 11, showing that the different changes do not always 

 progress pari passu in different individuals. 



Of the eleven specimens just referred to, all, except Nos, 1 

 and 3, are preserved in the Norwich Museum. 



While some allowance must be made for individual varia- 

 tion in immature specimens, I think it may be safely assumed 

 that the series above described fairly represents the ordinary 

 changes incident to the white-bellied Circaetus (C. pectoralis 



