474 ]Mr. J. II. Gurney^s Notes on 



The first plumage, described by Mr. Shari)e as " youug," is 

 always (so far as I have observed) more rufescent than is re- 

 presented in the figure of the young bird given in Sir A. 

 Smith's 'Illustrations of South African Zoology' (Aves,pl. 18) ; 

 but two young males in the Norwich Museum, one of which 

 contains a considerable remnant of nestling-down, are of a 

 much richer rufous than two youug females in the same 

 collection. 



The second plumage assumed by this species is that which 

 Mr. Sharpe designates as '' mature." The Norwich Museum 

 contains six specimens in this dress, three of which retain 

 partial traces of the rufescent stage which immediately pre- 

 ceded it. 



The third phase of plumage, which is almost entirely black, 

 is spoken of by Mr. Sharpe as " adult /' but if this expression 

 is intended to imply that every adult specimen ultimately 

 acquires it, I would suggest that such an inference is hardly 

 compatible with the rarity of these melanistic individuals ; 

 and, as an instance of their comparative scarcity, I would men- 

 tion that out of seven adult specimens preserved in the Norwich 

 Museum, only one is in this peculiar dress ; this example, a 

 male, has all the underparts of a glossy black (with a slight 

 greenish reflexion in some lights), except the under tail- 

 coverts, which are transversely marked with broad alternate 

 bars of black and white, and excepting also the cliin and 

 uppermost portion of the throat, which are white mingled 

 with black, the feathers there being white with narrow black 

 bases, shafts, and tips. In other respects this specimen agrees 

 with jNIr. Sharpens description, save that it shows no traces of 

 " buffy white " at the base of the quills. 



I may add, as a parallel case, that Mr. Layard, in his work 

 on the birds of South Africa, records a male of this species 

 which was "^ throughout of a rich brown-black," as having 

 " the chin and vent white, with streaks and blotches of the 

 prevailing colour." 



There remains but one other section of the Sparrow-Hawks 

 included by Mr. Sharpe in the genus Accipiter which appears 

 to me to be distinctly separal)lc from the central group, of 



