88 Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



habits are known, are partially reptilivorous, and some of 

 them almost entirely so. 



The only species of the genus Eutriorckis, E. astur, is a 

 native of Madagascar, and was described at p. 73 and figured 

 on pi. xiii. of the ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological Society 

 for ISrS, by Mr. Sharpe, who became acquainted with this 

 very curious bird subsequently to the publication of the first 

 volume of his Catalogue. Mr. Sharpe, in his description of 

 this species, has sufficiently pointed out the affinities of the 

 genus Eutriorckis ; and I can add nothing to his observations, 

 except to remark that E. astur has subsequently been also 

 figured by MM. Milne-Edwards and Grandidier on pi. 9b o£ 

 the second volume of their ' Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux 

 de Madagascar.' 



The affinities of the genus Dryotriorchis have been equally 

 well defined at pp. 90 and 91 of ^The Ibis' for 1874 by 

 Captain Shelley, to whose kindness I am indebted for permis- 

 sion to illustrate this paj)er by a figure of his fine specimen of 

 D. spectabilis, there described. The genus Dryotriorchis con- 

 tains but this single species, which is one of extreme rarity 

 in collections; and the present figure of it (Plate II.) will, 

 I think, be valuable both on that account and also because 

 the only representation of it hitherto published is contained 

 in the volume for 1863 of the ' Nederlandish Tijdschrift,' a 

 work which is but very little accessible to British ornitho- 

 logists. The figure there given is moreover, in my opinion, 

 not very satisfactory, as it fails to convey the idea of the 

 thoroughly Circaetine aspect of this curious bird. As indi- 

 cated by Mr. Sharpe in the footnote to p. 279 of his volume, 

 the general appearance of this species bears a considerable 

 resemblance to that of some species of the genus Spilornis ; 

 and I may observe that the narrow white edgings to the least 

 wing-coverts near the carpal joint are, in this respect, es- 

 pecially noteworthy. 



The genus Spilornis may, I think, be safely said to be 

 a purely oriental one ; for though Le Vaillant figm-es and de- 

 scribes one species of it (which he calls " Ic Bacha ") as having 

 been four times obtained bv him in the mountains of Great 



