Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitres. 89 



Namaqua Land*, it has not been met with by any subsequent 

 explorer of those regions ; and the accounts given by Le Vail- 

 lant of the localities frequented by " le Bacha/^ of its food, 

 its nidification, and the colour of the irides are all at vari- 

 ance with what is known as regards these points in the case 

 of Spilornis cheela and its near allies, from one of which 

 latter Le Vaillant's figure appears to have been taken. 



So far as I know, the only author, since Le Vaillant, who 

 speaks of having seen a Spilornis of undoubtedly African 

 origin is the late Mr. Cassin, who mentions an immature 

 specimen brought by Du Chaillu from the Gaboon f ; but it 

 seems probable, as suggested by Mr. Sharpe in a foot- 

 note to p. 279 of his volume, that the bird thus referred to 

 was in reality an example of Dryotriorcliis spectabilis. It 

 would, however, be very desirable that the specimen, which 

 probably still exists in Philadelphia, should be compared with 

 one of the latter species, and that a positive identification of 

 it should thus be arrived at. 



The genus Spilornis is a difficult one to deal with, as it 

 comprises some geographical races which seem scarcely to 

 be entitled to specific distinction, whilst others are more 

 decidedly separable. On some of these points I have formerly 

 expressed opinions which I now believe to be erroneous ; and 

 my present observations on the birds of this genus will there- 

 fore not be found to tally in all respects with some of my pre- 

 vious ones. 



The largest, and at the same time the most northerly 

 species of the genus Spilornis is S. cheela (Lath.) of Mr. 

 Sharpens Catalogue. Mr. Sharpe gives the range of this 

 species as " Himalaya mountains eastward to China,'^ and 

 admits as a distinct subspecies, under the name of S. me- 

 lanotis (Jerd.), the Spilornis inhabiting "Central and South- 

 ern India.^^ 



The specific name of cheela was founded by Latham on a 

 specimen for which he only gives " India '^ as a locality, 



* Vide Le Vaillaut's ' Oiseaux d'Afrique,' vol. i. p. 68, pi. xv. 

 t f'lV/e ' Proceediugs of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia ' for 1805, p. 2. 



