232 Air. J. 11. Guruey's Notes on 



coloration of wood- or stone-brown (slightly tinged with 

 purple on the lower scaj)ulars), of a deeper tint on the upper 

 than on the underparts of the bird^ and much darker in some 

 individuals than in others, but always (so far as I have seen) 

 without any tinge of the fulvous colouring which is conspicu- 

 ous on all parts, except the quill-feathers of the wing and tail, 

 in the young A. rajjax. The attainment of adult plumage 

 appears to be signalized in A. albicans, as in A. rapax, by 

 the acquisition of particoloured feathers on the mantle, and 

 especially on the wing-coverts and scapulars, these variega- 

 tions being disposed in a similar pattern in both races, except 

 that in A. albicans they usually do not descend so far down 

 on the scapulars as in A. rapax. In the majority of Abys- 

 sinian specimens, which are proved by this variegation to have 

 attained adult plumage, no rufous colouring is anywhere visi- 

 ble ; and in these examples the particoloured feathers, instead 

 of presenting a pattern composed of alternations of deep brown 

 with rufous or fulvous, as in the adults oi A. rapax, exhibit 

 the same pattern in two different shades of wood-brown, a 

 darker and a lighter. Such specimens as these are readily 

 distinguishable from the iy^xcol A. ra}) ax ; but other adults 

 also occur in Abyssinia which show a considerable amount of 

 rufous colouring on the head and upper part of the mantle, 

 including the paler portions of the particoloured feathers; 

 and it must be admitted that it is not easy, perhaps not pos- 

 sible, to distinguish with certainty between such Abyssinian 

 specimens as these and the ordinary South-African adults of 

 A. rapax. These rufescent Abyssinian examples, however, are 

 very much scarcer in collections than those that are non- 

 rufous ; and the prevalence of the latter johase in Abyssinia, 

 coupled with its almost entire absence in South Africa"^, is a 

 fact which ought not to be overlooked, whatever may be 



* I have only seen one non-rufous specimen from South Africa; this 

 is preserved in the British Museum, and is marked " m " in Mr. Sharpe's 

 list of specimens. It so closely resembles the ordinary Abyssinian type 

 that I cannot but think it possible that it may have been an accidental 

 wanderer from intertropical regions. The exact locality in South Africa 

 in which it was obtained is, unfortunately, not recorded. 



