154 Mr. J. H. Gumey^s Notes on 



the plate of tliis species given in the ' Riehesses Orni- 

 thologiques du Midi de la France/ by Jaulicrt and Bar- 

 thelemy-Lapommeraye. 



A somewhat paler specimen, but of similar age, is figured 

 at p. 232 of the ' Naumannia ' for 1856, under the name of 

 Falco gracilis of A. and L. Brehm*. A figure, very like the 

 last named, is associated with an adult H. concolor, as the 

 young of that species, in the frontispiece to Finsch and 

 Hartlaub's ' Vogel Ost-Afrika's ;' this, in my opinion, also 

 represents a pale-coloured young specimen of H. eleanorce. 



Some nestlings of the latter species, however, are darker 

 than the specimen figured in ' The Ibis ' for 1869 ; and such 

 a one is represented in Fritsch's 'Vogel Europa^s,' pi. 3. 

 fig. 6, but is there inscribed, erroneously as I consider, 

 " mas ad.^' 



In a letter which Lord Lilford was good enough to send 

 me respecting some dark-coloured young birds of this spe- 

 cies which came into his possession, he writes thus : — " The 

 specimens figured in 'The Ibis^ for 1869 are very decidedly 

 lighter in general coloration than the young birds received 

 by me, with some down still adhering to them, as men- 

 tioned in Dresser^s ' Birds of Europe f in fact, they Avere 

 precisely like young Hobbies, if any thing rather darker 

 than than an average nestling of that species, the rufous 

 edgings of the feathers very narrow, and the ground-colour 

 of the breast certainly darker than in the figure above 

 mentioned.^'' 



The next plumage assumed by this species appears to 

 be that which resembles, more or less closely, the adult 

 plumage of H. svbbuteo, from which some specimens only 

 difier in the margins of the feathers on the breast, abdo- 

 men, and flanks being rufeseent instead of white, and in 

 the presence of more or less of a rufous tinge on the 

 throat and cheeks. A male in this plumage is figured in 



* Mr. Sliarpo quotes this reference, but, I venture to tliink, incorrectly, 

 amongst the synonyms of II. concolor. Lord Lilford had previously 

 pointed out the correct identification of Fako gracilis in ' The Ibis ' for 

 1865, p. 175. 



