608 



10 



middle toe without claw l - 55— 1'6. It is a curious fact that the maximum length in the above measurements 

 is attained by an immature bird procured in East Lothian by Lord Walden, and now in his collection. 



One of the most remarkable specimens of a Sparrow-Hawk that we have ever seen was sent to us for 

 examination by the Marquis of Huntly, who shot it in September, 1871, near Aboyne Castle, in Aberdeenshire. 

 From the remains of rufous margins to a few of the feathers of the upper surface, it is evidently not quite 

 mature ; yet on the underside of the body it is deep rufous from the chin to the under tail-coverts. We were at 

 first inclined to consider it an extremely old female ; until Mr. Gurney, to whom we showed the bird, pointed 

 out the obsolete rufous edgings on some of the feathers ; and we now agree with him that the specimen is not 

 fully adult. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., has sent us the following note concerning the occasional assumption of 

 the male plumage by the female Sparrow-Hawk: — "My father has known very old females to get a tinge of 

 colour like the male ; and Mr. Harting, in the ' Birds of Middlesex,' speaks of specimens whose sex could not 

 be determined by external characters; such a bird my father once saw stuffed in an inn in Sussex. An adult 

 male in the plumage of the female was killed in Hertfordshire (Zool. 1846, p. 1637), being also of the size of a 

 female." We do not consider Lord Huntly's specimen to be an old female in masculine dress, because it is 

 certainly not a very old bird ; but we think it probable that it is a sterile female, and on that account is in 

 plumage something like that of the old male. In any case, the bird is sufficiently interesting to merit a 

 description. 



Supposed sterile Female. Above sooty brown, darkest on the head ; the nape showing the white bases to 

 the feathers, and indistinctly tinged with rufous ; an obsolete edging of this latter colour may be seen 

 on many of the interscapular feathers, and a more distinct one on the wing-coverts ; quills sooty brown, 

 some of the feathers washed with clearer brown, this colour also appearing on some of the wing-coverts ; 

 five bars on the long primaries, and remains of a sixth obsolete one at the base ; lower part of the back 

 and rump clearer grey, this shade extending to the tad, the outer feathers of which are slightly tinged 

 with clearer brown, and most of them tipped with white ; the tail is not fully grown, but we can count 

 five bars ; forehead and eyebrow deep rufous ; ear-coverts sooty brown, dashed with rufous ; cheeks 

 rufous, longitudinally striped with sooty brown ; entire under surface deep rufous, including the axillary 

 plumes and under wing-coverts, flanks, and under tail-coverts ; the throat narrowly striped with sooty 

 brown, all the rest of the under surface crossed with transverse bars of sooty brown ; the breast-feathers 

 marked with two bars, one broad, and another narrower one near the tip, this second bar on some of the 

 feathers becoming obsolete. Total length 15 inches, culmen 0'8, wing 9, tail 7'5, tarsus 2 - 3, middle 

 toe, without claw, l - 6. 



We have lately received some additional information respecting this bird from Mr. Waters, a very good 

 observer, who is now engaged in arranging Lord Huntly's beautiful collection at Aboyne, and who preserved 

 the specimen in question. Having mentioned to him our idea that the bird might be a sterile female assuming 

 a kind of male plumage, he writes to us as follows : — " I can scarcely think that the bird is a sterile female, as 

 I have since seen a similar one that I have little doubt was a male. It was not more than two thirds the size ; 

 and the breast was a dark chestnut : the bars were not visible to me, although I managed to creep within 

 fifteen yards of it. I at first took it for a Red-legged Falcon, but was quite certain, when I approached close 

 to it, that it was nothing but a male Sparrow- Hawk. The iris was dark yellow, nearly approaching to 

 orange." Mr. Gurney, who has examined the Aboyne bird, offers a feasible explanation of its curious plumage. 

 He tells us that he was informed by the late Mr. E. C. Newcome that Peregrine Falcons had a light and a dark 

 phase of plumage, this difference being apparent even in the nest, i. e. that young birds which were dark in 

 the nest grew up to be darker-coloured than the others ; and this Mr. Gurney has proved to be the case with 

 birds which he himself has reared in captivity. It is certain that some nestling Sparrow-Hawks are darker 

 than others ; and therefore the one under discussion may only be a deeply coloured specimen. We cannot, of 



