14 ACCIPITEES. 



culmen, greenish olive at base : legs and feet yellow, claws 

 black ; iris deep yellow. Total length 16' to 17"2 inches, wing 

 10-5, tail 7-5 to 85, tarsi 2-9 to 3-1, bill 0-9 to 1 inch. 



Bemarh. In some apparently fully adult specimens the back is 

 browner, the colour vinous red and less distinct, the under sur- 

 face of the primaries washed with a deeper tint of light rufous, 

 and the bars on quills and tail much more distinct. 



Adult female. The same in plumage, but larger. Total length 

 17-D to 20-5 inches, wing 12- to 12-3, tarsi 3-2 to 3-5, tail 9-5 

 to 10-5. 



Progress towards maturity. The longitudinal stripes on the 

 throat, chest, and breast become transverse, the whole of the 

 under surface is crossed with narrow, w^avy rufous bars, margined 

 with dark brown, the whole of the upper surface of a uniform 

 brown, without any rufous margins to the feathers ; the head 

 inclines to bluish slate-colour; few, if any, of the feathers on nape 

 or hind neck show any white ; the wings underneath become more 

 and more washed witli rufous, and the bars on the tail less distinct. 



Touncj. Varying from ashy brown to dark brown above, all 

 the feathers more or less edged with rufous ; sides of head, face, 

 and throat, with a dark brown stripe down centre of each feather ; 

 the basal portion of the feathers on the back of the head and 

 nape white, showing conspicuously with the brown and rufous 

 markings of those parts ; wings and tail dark brown, the inner 

 webs of the feathers pale rufous, except at the tips, all crossed 

 with numerous transverse narrow bars of blackish brown, eigh- 

 teen to twenty in number on the tail, twelve to fourteen on 

 wings ; secondaries and tail feathers tipped with fulvous or dirty 

 white ; inner webs of tail feathers between the bars, light rufous 

 above ; outer webs aboA'e, deep rufous at the base of the external 

 feathers in some ; under surface of the tail white, shining, the 

 rufous tint and bars distinctly showing through ; under surface 

 of body white or nearly so ; chest streaked with irregular shaped 

 somewhat oval blotches of dark brown — in some specimens 

 strongly tinged with rufous, many of the feathers having a con- 

 cealed transverse blotch near their centre ; breast, abdomen, 

 flanks, and under tail-coverts broadly barred with dark brown 

 or rufous bands, margined on either side with brown, and barred 

 with narrow wavy markings of a similar tint ; under surface of 

 wings white tinged with fulvous, crossed with dark brown bars ; 

 cere, and bill at base bluish lead-colour ; culmen dark bluish horn- 

 colour ; legs and feet yellowish ; iris bright yellow. Total length 

 sixteen to nineteen inches. 



Nestling, Eeg. No. B. 6432. "Taken from the nest December 

 Gth, 18S3, Darling Eiver, Interior, N.S.W. About a fortnight 

 old. Iris brown, cere light green; bill black; legs and feet 

 yellow, claws lead colour"; length G inches; bill from fore- 

 head 07 inch, from gape 0'75, tarsus 1*65, mid toe (s.u.) 1. Body 



