232 
Mr. J. H. Gurney’s Notes on 
coloration of wood- or stone-brown (slightly tinged with 
purple on the lower scapulars), of a deeper tint on the upper 
than on the underparts of the bird, and much darker in some 
individuals than in others, but always (so far as I have seen) 
without any tinge of the fulvous colouring which is conspicu¬ 
ous on all parts, except the quill-feathers of the wing and tail, 
in the young A. rapace. The attainment of adult plumage 
appears to be signalized in A. albicans , as in A. rapace, by 
the acquisition of particoloured feathers on the mantle, and 
especially on the wing-coverts and scapulars, these variega¬ 
tions being disposed in a similar pattern in both races, except 
that in A. albicans they usually do not descend so far down 
on the scapulars as in A. ray ax. In the majority of Abys¬ 
sinian specimens, wdrich are proved by this variegation to have 
attained adult plumage, no rufous colouring is anywhere visi¬ 
ble ; and in these examples the particoloured feathers, instead 
of presenting a pattern composed of alternations of deep brown 
with rufous or fulvous, as in the adults of A. rapax, exhibit 
the same pattern in two different shades of wood-brown, a 
darker and a lighter. Such specimens as these are readily 
distinguishable from the typical A. rapax ; but other adults 
also occur in Abyssinia which show a considerable amount of 
rufous colouring on the head and upper part of the mantle, 
including the paler portions of the particoloured feathers; 
and it must be admitted that it is not easy, perhaps not pos^ 
sible, to distinguish with certainty between such Abyssinian 
specimens as these and the ordinary South-African adults of 
A. rapax. These rufescent Abyssinian examples, however, are 
very much scarcer in collections than those that are non- 
rufous; and the prevalence of the latter phase in Abyssinia, 
coupled with its almost entire absence in South Africa*, is a 
fact which ought not to be overlooked, whatever may be 
* I have only seen one non-rufous specimen from South Africa; this 
is preserved in the British Museum, and is marked u m ” in Mr. Sharpe’s 
list of specimens. It so closely resembles the ordinary Abyssinian type 
that I cannot but think it possible that it may have been an accidental 
wanderer from intertropical regions. The exact locality in South Africa 
in which it was obtained is, unfortunately, not recorded. 
