Calcutta, with Notes by H. E. Strickland. 35 



exists along the Himalaya, especially towards the N.W. in the al- 

 pine Punjab. Of the rest, I have obtained F. shaheen, Jerdon, and 

 F. vespertinus, in addition to the species noticed in the catalogue ; 

 my friend Mr. Earle tells me that he has shot F. peregrinus ; and I 

 am satisfied of the occasional occurrence of F.juggur, Gray and 

 Hardwicke, vel F. luggur, Jerdon. 



The word lerax I so spelt to distinguish it in a more marked man- 

 ner from the genus Hyrax among the mammalia. I have one species 

 from Assam, and another from Nepal and Arracan ; a third appears 

 peculiar to the Malay countries, and a fourth inhabits the Philippines. 

 The true Falco ccerulescens, Linn., founded on Edwards, pi. 108, is 

 certainly a distinct species from any of the four known to me. In 

 the Assamese /. melanoleucos , nobis, the tibial plumes are white ; in 

 the Nepalese /. eutolmus, Hodgson (Falco ccerulescens, var. a, Latham, 

 from near Sylhet), they are bright ferruginous ; and in the Malay 

 species deep black. Latham's description of Edwards's alleged 

 Bengal species agrees neither with i". eutolmus nor with /. melano- 

 leucos. 



No. 9. I have instituted a division Nisastur for the reception of 

 Falco badius, Brown, and the species allied to it, conceiving that they 

 do not range satisfactorily either in Dcedalion (Astur, Bechstein) or 

 in Accipiter*. 



No. 14. This I fully suspect will have to be recognised as a di- 

 stinct species from the European Circus ceruginosus, v. rufus, in which 

 case it will apparently stand as C. variegatus, Sykes ; and Latham's 

 Rufous-eared Falcon, no. 103, and Konta Falcon, no. 117, are both 

 referable to it. If I remember rightly, M. Lesson has some remarks 

 on the Indian " variety " of C. ceruginosus in the ■ Zoologie du Voyage 

 de M. Belanger.' The extreme frequency of specimens with ash-co- 

 loured tail and part of wings, as figured in Gould's ' Birds of Europe ' 

 from a Himalayan specimen, first led me to entertain this suspicion, 

 and the Indian bird appears also to be always smaller, to have the 

 owl-like ruff more developed, and to be further distinguished by 

 having golden-yellow irides. Now of the considerable number of 

 European specimens which I have seen, I do not remember to have 

 met with one having the ash-coloured wings and tailf, nor do I think 

 the irides were ever pure yellow. Referring to M c Gillivray's ' Ra- 

 pacious Birds,' I observe he mentions the irides of the male to be 

 "orange," and those of the female to be "reddish-yellow." Mr. 

 Jenyns, without distinguishing the sex, describes the " adult in its 



* A recent skin has just been brought to me of a small Accipiter shot a 

 few miles down the river, which is not improbably the Khandesra hawk 

 which Mr. Jerdon has been long trying to procure. 



f It is however certain that specimens so coloured do occasionally occur 

 in Europe, as they have been accurately described by various authors from 

 Brisson to Yarrell. The scarcity of such specimens in Europe is probably 

 owing to the influence of man, who usually destroys these birds before they 

 become aged. I do not therefore think that there is at present sufficient evi- 

 dence to warrant the specific separation of the " Moor Buzzards" of India 

 from those of Europe. — H. E. S. 



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