126



Mr. R. Phiixipps,



the same shade of brown as the wings ; and the sulphur wash of

the under parts of the freshly moulted adult female, which

eventually seems to give a reddish tone to the brown, gradually

spread below entirely superseding the grays, and finalty in its

turn was absorbed by the prevailing brown hue. In the middle

of November, comparing the young bird with the second female,

the general appearance from the front was a good deal lighter,

from behind lighter and more spotted streaked and mottled. By

December, however, the brown generally had become distinctly

darker. The black and brown neck-yoke and the Owlish face-

disc, of which more anon, rather conspicuous at times towards

the end of November in the second female (moult of breeding

female not completed), were not clear oti the young bird until early

in December. It is worthy of notice that, although the second

female seemed to have completed her moult by the end of Sep¬

tember, these black and brown lines did not appear until well

into November; and, although they (the connecting lines as I

may call them) are to be seen more or less plainly year after year,

in the description of the adult female in the British Museum

Catalogue they are not mentioned.


The markings on the upper part of the head deserve

attention, for probably it is here if anywhere that any distin¬

guishing mark of sex (and possibly of age) may be found. Two

being the usual number of eggs to the clutch, one feels that the

young as a rule should be of different sexes.


The down was exceedingly thick and close—a regular mat

—all over the upper parts of the head. Commencing with the

forehead, it slowly rolled back from front to rear as far as the

hinder crown where it lingered for some time, finally clinging

on in the form of two fairy horns which disappeared about

September 18.


On August 31 some brown-black marks began to be clearly

seen on the sinciput of the elder bird, and on September 2 on

both of them, and on the 4th I noted as follows : Broad band

across front of head very pale buff or sandy. A dark brown,

almost blackish, irregular line across crown from behind each

eye, with two projections or horns jutting forward towards the

forehead. I11 the elder bird these horns took the form of a



