Mr. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 123 



in which the underparts are suffused with grey are older 

 individuals than those in which these parts are rufous ; but I 

 have not seen any grey-breasted specimens in which the rufous 

 has entirely disappeared, considerable traces of it remaining 

 in all those that I have examinedj especially on the sides of 

 the upper breast ; neither have I met with any individuals 

 (like those mentioned by Mr. Sharpe) with less than three 

 light cross bars on the tail ; but I have seen specimens, both 

 red and grey-breasted birds, in which the upper bar was 

 nearly obsolete. 



The red-breasted birds are more or less transversely barred 

 with rufous and white on the abdomen and lower breast, the 

 rufous bars apparently becoming ultimately grey, and then 

 ascending somewhat higher on the breast than was previously 

 the case. 



Some individuals, both in the grey and in the rufous stage, 

 are more distinctly barred than others ; but I have only seen 

 one adult specimen in which the abdominal cross bars are 

 entirely absent. This bird, which is in the collection of 

 Messrs. Salvin and Godman, and was obtained at Sarayacu 

 in Ecuador, has the whole of the breast below the throat and 

 the abdomen an unbroken rich dark rufous ; it, however, 

 exhibits cross bars on the axillaries, flanks, tibiae, and under 

 tail-coverts. 



Of the nearly allied form, Harjiagus fasc'iatuSy which occurs 

 in Central America north of Panama, the only adults that I 

 have seen are three in the collection of Messrs. Salvin and 

 Godman, from Veragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala respec- 

 tively ; these all bear a considerable resemblance to the 

 iTifous-breasted phase of H. bidentatus, from which, however, 

 they differ in the greater breadth and extent of the alternate 

 rufous and white bars, which traverse the underparts con- 

 tinuously from the throat to the vent, the rufous bars being 

 each composed of two shades, the one a bright rust-colour, 

 the other tinged with slaty brown ; the under tail-coverts are 

 pure white in the Guatemalan and Costa- Rican specimens, 

 and buffy white, slightly marked with brown, in that from 

 Veragua. 



