158 
Mr. J. H. Gurney^s Notes on 
white^ but the sides also ; three feathers about the centre of 
the upper breast, and one on the abdomen, show a pale brown 
subterminal mark; almost all the feathers on the sides of the 
breast have similar marks, but of a much darker brown; and 
on some of these feathers the brown mark is divided by a 
white shaft-mark; similar spots, also thus divided, are con¬ 
spicuous on the under tail-coverts; the axillaries and wing- 
linings, whicli are pure white in the fully adult bird, are in 
this specimen spotted with brown, very much as in No. 7, but 
the spots are less regularly disposed. 
(No. 9.) A female shot in the same locality on June 25th 
is in adult plumage, with the exception of two small dark 
spots still remaining on the white under surface—one on the 
breast, and the other on the abdomen; Mr. Ayres notes the 
colour of the irides in this example as dark gamboge- 
yellow.^^ 
(No. 10.) Another female, also shot near Potchefstroom in 
June, is entirely adult, and, according to Mr. Ayres^'s note, 
had the irides bright yellow.^^ 
(No. 11.) A specimen from the Cape colony, otherwise in 
fully adult plumage^^ is remarkable for having the plastron 
longitudinally divided by white-edged feathers, as is the case 
in No. 7 j but in the present specimen the space occupied by 
this division is considerably narrower than in No. 7, no doubt 
from the bird being older. I have already noticed the slight 
remains of a similar division in the plastron of No. 8; and it 
is curious that, though No. 8 is obviously a more immature 
bird than No. 11, yet in this particular item, but in this 
only, its change of plumage is more advanced than that of 
No. 11, showing that the different changes do not always 
progress pari passu in different individuals. 
Of the eleven specimens just referred to, all, except Nos. 1 
and 3, are preserved in the Norwich Museum. 
While some allowance must be made for individual varia^ 
tion in immature specimens, I think it may be safely assumed 
that the series above described fairly represents the ordinary 
changes incident to the white-bellied CircaMus {C. pectoralis 
