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parents whose first eggs (or possibly young) have been destroyed in the early spring ; but many of them may 

 be migratory specimens, hatched later in northern latitudes than they would be in England." We think that 

 Mr. Gurney is right in stating that the young male gains his adult dress in his first spring ; at all events 

 Lord Walden possesses a specimen killed near Reading on the 21st of February, 1868, which would at once 

 be pronounced fully adult ; for it is very richly coloured on the breast and is dark blue-grey above ; but a few 

 obsolete tawny edgings to the tail-coverts, and a shade of the same colour on the tail itself, show that its 

 adult plumage has not long been put on. The young male described from Cookham, however, and shot there 

 on the 10th of November, is a British-bred specimen, and is very rufous underneath; but the specimen 

 from Greatham, mentioned above as killed on the 16th of the same month, we take to be a migrant, on account 

 of its paler coloration ; but it will be impossible to determine until a thoroughly complete series of typical 

 Swedish birds shall have been examined. The adult males we have seen are seven in number, and they 

 clearly show the way in which this sex gets more and more rufous as the bird advances in age. One of them 

 is exceedingly richly coloured on the under surface of the body, which is almost uniform rufous on the chest ; 

 the axillary plumes are also thoroughly pervaded with this colour throughout their entire length ; the cheeks, 

 forehead, and eyebrow are also uniform rufous, with no admixture of white. In all the specimens the bars on 

 the primaries are six in number, the more aged birds having them more distinct, while in some of the latter 

 the lowest basal bar is almost obsolete ; in the above-mentioned Reading example the second and third bars 

 are joined together, and they are very irregular in shape. On the tail the bars are five in number; but in the 

 Reading male before mentioned there is the trace of a sixth, nearly obsolete bar on the base of the tail, situ- 

 ated close to the next bar, and evidently about to be absorbed into that or to disappear altogether. In the 

 rufous-breasted male the basal tail-band is also very faintly developed; and it is probable that in a very little 

 while this bird, had he lived, would have lost all trace of the fifth or basal bar ; for it is evident to us that the 

 male Sparrow-Hawk, as it gets aged, gradually diminishes the number of bars on the tail — the greatest number 

 being six, and the least number probably four. Total length ( d ) 11'5-12"5 inches, culmen 0'65, wing 7"6-7 - 95, 

 tail 6 - 0-6 - 3, tarsus 2 - l-2'15, middle toe without claw l - 25-l'35. The older birds seem to have rather stouter 

 legs than the younger ones. 



Now as regards the females. Of these we have a good series of British-killed examples before us, and Mr. 

 Gurney's description of the changes of plumage is well illustrated. There can, we think, be little doubt that 

 the female gains her adult plumage in her first spring ; that is to say, all traces of the rufous edgings disappear, 

 and the bars are much narrower on the breast. It remains, however, to compare Swedish examples with 

 English female birds ; for our specimens are much darker, in both the young and adult stages of plumage, than 

 those from the Continent. In the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., we have examined a specimen which 

 is unlike any other British Sparrow-Hawk we have seen, and looks like a miniature Goshawk. On the feathers 

 of the interscapulary region, on some of the greater coverts are narrow whitish edgings. The whole tone of 

 the bird's plumage is pale, especially on the under surface of the body, which is white, with greyish-brown 

 crossbars, rather wide apart; the eyebrow also is very broad and white; but the ear- coverts are strongly 

 rufescent ; and there is an appearance of this colour on the flanks, this last character showing an approach to 

 maturity. This bird, which was shot at Lower Earlham, in Norfolk, on the 18th of February, 1866, we 

 believe to be a migratory individual; for it is very different from an English specimen killed on the 20th of 

 April, although both are birds of the previous year. The bars on the primaries are only five in number, 

 whereas in all our other English specimens there are six, the younger ones bearing some trace of an obsolete 

 seventh bar at the base of the quill ; the tail-bands are five in number, as in the English birds, though in the 

 very old females from this country the two basal bars are nearly obsolete and bear certain evidence that one, 

 if not two, disappears with age. The measurements of Mr. Gurney's specimen are as follows : — Total length 

 14-3 inches, culmen 0*8, wing 9-2, tail 7 - 2, tarsus 2 - 4, middle toe without claw T55. The other English 

 specimens measure : — Total length 14-0-16-0 inches, culmen - 85, wing 8 - 8-9-3, tail 7 - 3-7-6, tarsus 2 - 4-2'5, 



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