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APPENDIX A. 



On Circus Eeruginosus and Circus spilonotus. 



Mr. Seebohm, in the article on Circus (Eniginosus in his 

 ' History of British Birds/ has introduced some interesting 

 remarks on the eastern range of that species, and on the 

 geographical distribution of its Oriental congener C. spilo- 

 notus, also on the remarkable Harrier from Transylvania, 

 figured in Dresser^s ^ Birds of Europe^ as '' a very old male" 

 of C. (Bruginosus. Mr. Seebohm speaks of this specimen as 

 '^evidently a nearly adult male'' of C. spilonotus : this it pos- 

 sibly may be ; but though it bears a singular resemblance to 

 the male of C. spilonotus when passing from the immature to 

 the adult dress, I have never seen an example of the latter 

 species exactly like it, and I incline to the opinion that it 

 really is an abnormally-coloured and probably a very old male 

 of C. (Bruginosus. I have seen other males, which I refer 

 without doubt to C. ceruginosus, that considerably approach 

 this Transylvanian specimen, but differ less than it does from 

 the ordinary type of C. (Bruginosus ; of such specimens I may 

 particularize five, four of which (one from Damietta, a second 

 from Sahara, a third from Ceylon, and the fourth from 

 Maunbhoom in India) are in the Norwich Museum, and the 

 fifth is Mr. Wright^s Malta male referred to in Mr. Dresser's 

 work. 



The Norwich Museum has recently added to its series of 

 C. spilonotus six specimens, all collected by Mr. Everett at 

 Papar in Northern Borneo, which locality they had probably 

 reached on their southern migration, as five of them were 

 obtained at various dates ranging from the 24th December 

 to the 4th January, and the sixth is also ticketed as obtained 

 in December, though the day of the month has not in this 

 instance been recorded. 



