on Dr. Jerdou^s ' Birds of India.' 235 



character between the Bhyri and Shdhin; and I suspect that its 

 habits will likewise prove intermediate. As all of the Australian 

 specimens which I have seen were essentially similar, I do not 

 perceive how the race can be appositely designated an " acci- 

 dental'^ variety of F. peregrinus. In like manner Professor 

 Schlegel only acknowledges the Australian Hobby {Hypotriorchis 

 lunulatus) as Falco subbuteo frontatus^. (It ranges, as he tells us, 

 to Amboyna and Ceram.) Now two common British birds 

 which are very similar in appearance ai-e universally recognized 

 as good species {Phi/lloscnpus trochilus and P. rufus), because 

 we happen to be familiar with them, and to know of the difference 

 of their notes and in the colouring of their eggs; but if P. rufus 

 were brought as new from a distant region, and we were (as usual) 

 unacquainted with its voice and with its eggs, upon the same 

 principle it should be ranged as P. trochilus rufus ; and no slight 

 confusion would be introduced if we were to attempt to classify 

 the xlsiatic species of Phylloscopus and allied forms after this 

 fashion ! Alexander Wilson used to be irate at finding so many 

 well-marked North-American species of birds set down as " varie- 

 ties '' (and usually " degenerate " varieties) of European species; 

 and, with considerably increased knowledge, all of those now meet 

 with general acceptation as acknowledged species, I quite hold 

 with Dr. Jerdon in his remarks on species and varieties (Intro- 

 duction, p. XXV et seq.), and think with him that "it is more 

 convenient in practice to give to each [recognized] race a distinct 

 specific name, than to speak of them as Var. A. or Var. B. of 

 such a species," or, again, than to affix a double specific name, 

 according to the system of Professor Schlegel. Indeed 1 look 

 upon it as essentially a matter of convenience, more especially 

 with regard to the views respecting species and varieties which 

 have been propounded by Messrs. Darwin and Wallace. 



9. Falco PEREGRIN ATORf^ Sundevall. (The Shdhin.) F. ruber, 



* Mr. Gould, in his recent ' Handbook to the Birds of Austraha,' remarks 

 that it '' combines in its structure characters pertaining to the Hobby and 

 to the Merhn of Europe," and moreover that it is a " stationary " or non- 

 migratory species in all of the colonies which he visited. In structure it is 

 decidedly a true Hobby, as distinguished from the Merlin group. 



t [Mr. J. H. Gurney has called our attention to the fact that an adult 

 female, attributed to this species, in the British Museum, believed to be 



