466 Letters, Announcements, ^'c. 



that bird, between the dark transverse abdominal bars which 

 characterize the adult plumage of all these Falcons. 



Before leaving Prof. Baird's paper I wish to add a remark on 

 the subject of Falco islandicus. I have never had an oppor- 

 tunity of examining an adult specimen of this Falcon from any 

 locality westward of Greenland; but I have seen several imma- 

 ture birds from Labrador and from the Hudson's Bay Territory, 

 and have invariably found them of a darker and more fuliginous 

 hue than specimens of a corresponding age from Iceland and 

 Greenland. 



This peculiarity, which is well represented in Audubon's 

 plate of the immature example procured by him in Labrador, 

 is, I think, deserving further investigation by any naturalist who 

 may have the opportunity of making it. 



With reference to the avifauna of the Andaman Islands, I 

 wish to mention that I have several times examined the two 

 living examples of Spilornis sent from those islands to the Zoo- 

 logical Society, and I think I may say, confidently, that they 

 do not belong (as suggested by Capt. Beavan) to S. cheela, but 

 to the more southern species, S. bacha (Daudin), S. bido (Hors- 

 field), which inhabits the islands of Ceylon, Sumatra, and Java, 

 and the southern extremity of the Malay peninsula. 



In regard to the birds of the Seychelles Islands, I think it 

 may be worth mentioning that the Norwich Museum possesses an 

 authentic Seychelles specimen of Tinnunculus alaudarius, which 

 may possibly be the bird which was mentioned to Mr. Newton 

 under the local name of " Papangue." I may add that this 

 specimen (an adult male) is the only example I have seen of the 

 species from any locality south of the equator. 



J. H. GURNBY. 



8 August, 1867. 



Sir, — The geographical distribution of the European races 

 of the genus Cinclus, on which Mr. Salvin has thrown much 

 light in his model-paper in your January number, is still very 

 perplexing ; nor is it simplified by the fact that I have recently 

 ascertained that the Dipper, which breeds in the Pyrenees, is 

 C. melanogaster ! Mr. Salvin conjectured that the Pyrenean 



