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quills are brownish black, with the outer webs tinged with grey 
toward the end, the inner white from the base to beyond the 
middle, and having severalirregular dusky bands. Tail banded 
with brownish-grey and blackish brown, there being ten bands 
on the middle feathers, and twelve on the outer, the last dark 
band little larger than the next, the tips whitish. The sides of 
the head and throat are yellowish white streaked with brown ; 
the rest of the lower parts yellowish white, longitudinally marked 
with oblong brown spots, the sides chiefly brown; the lower 
tail-coverts with a brown spot; the plumage of the legs and 
tarsi irregularly banded with brown and light red. The dull 
light red edgings of the feathers are characteristic of the young, 
as is also the case in the Sparrow-Hawk, Merlin, and many 
other species. 
A female of the same age, differs chiefly, in having less white 
on the lower parts, the breast beimg of a nearly uniform brown, 
although on many of the feathers, there are large reddish-white 
spots. The feathers of the legs and tarsi are variegated with 
brown, white, and light red, as are those of the abdomen, and 
the lower tail-coverts yellowish, barred with brown. 
Procress witH Marurrry.—At the next moult, the bird 
assumes a more uniform brown colour on the upper parts, the 
light red markings becoming light brown, or brownish-white. 
It appears that, as it advances in age, the marginal white of 
the feathers extends, until the lower parts in the males hecome 
nearly white, there being merely an oblong brown spot on 
each feather, and the white predominates over the brown on the 
upper parts. In the females, similar changes take place, but 
the lower parts are always more brown than in the males. I 
have seen some individuals that had the plumage white, with 
the exception of the quills, tail and some oblong spots on the upper 
parts and breast. it thus appears that at first the colors of 
the plumage are darker than when the bird has attained matu- 
rity, and that the white predominates over the brown in old age ; 
but it must be confessed that sufficiently correct observations 
have not been made on this subject, and that much remains 
to be done, before the variations of color, in the species, are 
well understood. The iris, in young birds is brown, in adult 
birds yellow. 
Mr. Temminck states, that in adult individuals, the upper 
parts, the neck and breast, are dark brown; the throat and 
belly brownish grey but variegated with spots of a darker 
brown, the tail with twelve transverse bands, the bill lead- 
colour, the cere, iris and seet yellow. Very old individuals, 
he says, have the plumage very deep brown, or chocolate colour, 
