159 
Mr. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue of Accipitres. 
of Smith) in its progress from the nestling-plumage to the 
fully adult dress. 
In addition to the phases of plumage to which I have above 
alluded;, South-African specimens occur the plumage of which 
is fuliginous above and below^ but with white bases to the 
feathers of the under surface^ and with the wing-linings partly 
fuliginous and partly white. Mr. Sharpe terms this plumage 
mature; but if this phrase is intended to imply that every 
individual at a certain age attains it_, I must express my dis¬ 
sent from such a conclusion, as I believe it to be an ex¬ 
ceptional and quasi-melanistic variety, if, indeed, it be not 
referable, as Riippell, Schlegel, and Von Heuglin suppose, to 
a distinct species and, as such, specially entitled to have the 
specific name of cinereus. 
In MM. Verreaux and des MuiVs notice of Circaetus 
thoracicus,^^ at p. 209 of ^The Ibis'* for 1862, reference is 
made to dark-coloured nestlings in the following words (pro¬ 
bably based on information obtained by the late Jules Ver¬ 
reaux during his travels in South Africa) :—^^le jeune, au 
sortir du nid, est en effet brun-enfume.^^ 
That rufescent nestlings of C. pectoralis also occur is cer¬ 
tain; and Sir A. Smith, in his account of that species, from 
which I have already quoted, appears to refer to two dis¬ 
tinct phases of nestling-plumage, describing them as uni¬ 
form light chestnut or a dull earthy brown.^'* I therefore 
doubt not that the fuliginous specimens, which sometimes 
occur, have worn that garb from the time of leaving the nest, 
and have never passed through the fulvous or rufescent stage 
by which other nestlings are distinguished—and that this 
is equally true, whether they are in reality a melanistic phase 
of C. pectoralis or specifically distinct. 
It would seem that the white bases to the feathers of the 
underparts do not exist in all fuliginous specimens, as I have 
seen three such in which they are absent: two of these, from 
Nubia and Bissao respectively, are preserved in the Norwich 
Museum, and are the only specimens of C. cinereus which 
I have recently been able to examine from any locality north 
of the equator; the third is from the Humbe, in Southern 
