Mr. R. B. Sharpe’s Catalogue of Accipitres. 375 
the scapulars are slightly paler than the rest of the plumage, 
and show dark shaft-marks, which are not visible elsewhere; 
the lesser and middle wing-coverts, on the side which I was 
able to examine, each showed a solitary feather of the pre¬ 
vious year still unmoulted, and decidedly paler than the sur¬ 
rounding plumage; the second, third, and fourth primaries also 
appear not to have been moulted, and are tinged with grey, the 
others being almost black; the lower portion of the abdomen 
and the tibiae are also nearly black, being perceptibly darker 
than the general colour of the body; the under tail-coverts 
have a few white spots on them, wedge-shaped, with the nar¬ 
row end of the wedge pointing downwards ; these spots, and 
a slight tinge of white on the lores and on the extreme front 
of the forehead, are the only white portions of the plumage 
which I was able to detect; on the upper surface of the tail 
three irregular transverse grey bars are visible, which are 
especially apparent on the four central rectrices, the remainder 
of the tail being a dark brown; these bars are rather more 
than half an inch in breadth, and about twice as broad as the 
brown interspaces between them*; the under surface of the 
tail is greyish white, slightly mottled with a darker tint, and 
crossed by an irregular subterminal band of dark greyish 
brown. 
Archibuteo sandi-johannis , which is the representative of 
A. lag opus in the North-American continent, approaches so 
closely to the European race, that I can only consider it a 
subspecies of A. lagopus. 
Comparing non-melanistic specimens of A. sancti-johannis 
with normal examples of A. lagopus , I find them on the 
average slightly darker, and decidedly more rufous, the ex¬ 
cess of rufous colouring in the American race being especially 
apparent on the tibial feathers; no appreciable difference in 
size or measurements exists between the two species. 
Mr. Sharpe gives full descriptions of the different phases 
of plumage incident to A. sancti-johannis ; and more detailed 
* I may remark that in the melanisms of A. sancti-johannis which I 
have examined this proportion is reversed, the brown bars on the tail in 
these specimens being broad and the grey narrow. 
