Mr. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 155 



the second edition of Bree's ' Birds of Europe/ vol. i. p. 46, 

 and a female in Dresser^s ' Birds of Europe/ vol. vi. pi. 383 ; 

 a male and female, differing but very slightly from the 

 above, are represented in Schlegel and SusemihFs ' Vogel 

 Europa''s/ pi. 54. figs. 1 & 2, and a somewhat similar female 

 in Fritsch^s work already referred to, pi. 3. fig. 5. 



Other examples, though probably referable to the same 

 stage of plumage, or nearly so, as those last mentioned, 

 have the rufous on the lower parts duller and less con- 

 spicuous, and also have the cheeks and throat more or 

 less dark-coloured, and sometimes entirely so. Ai*e these 

 duskily-tinted individuals birds which have previously 

 worn the bright and well-defined hobby-like plumage (re- 

 presented in the figures to which I have last referred), and 

 which are now passing from that stage to the entirely fuli- 

 ginous plumage ? or are they birds which were dark-coloured 

 as nestlings, and in which the hobby-like plumage has never 

 been more than partially assumed, having been modified by 

 melanistic tendencies in the constitution of the individual ? 

 Dr. Kriiper appears to be of the latter opinion {vide Journ. 

 fiir Orn. 1864, p. 11) * ; and such is also the opinion of Dr. 

 Louis Bureau, of Nantes, who has paid much attention to 

 this species, and has favoured me with valuable communica- 

 tions on the subject of its variations of plumage. 



A further question arises — do the bright-coloured hobby- 

 like individuals continue to wear that plumage to the end of 

 their days, or do they ultimately assume the fuliginous 

 di'ess, though perhaps not so rapidly as others which have 

 from the beginning developed a more melanistic tendency ? 

 So far as I am aware, this question has not yet been satisfac- 



* Dr. Kriiper's paper above referred to is a very interesting one, and 

 especially important as containing the results of his observations on the 

 Eleanora Hobby in some of the islands of the Greek archipelago. Valu- 

 able portions of this paper are quoted in the article on this species in 

 Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ;' and a much fuller extract, translated into 

 French, will be found iu the ' Bulletin de la Societe Oruithologique Suisse/ 

 vol. i. p. 132, for an acquaintance with which I am indebted to the kind 

 attention of Dr. Bureau. 



