Letters, Announcements, ^c. 119 



I believe but one British specimen of this Buzzard has 

 been previously recorded — that mentioned by Mr. Gould in 

 his ' Birds of Great Britain/ and referred to in ' The Ibis ' 

 for 1876, p. 366. 



I may add, that during my visit to Newcastle I also saw 

 Mr. Hancock^s curious Sparrow hawk^ to which I referred 

 in ' The Ibis ' for 1875, p. 479, and that I agree with that 

 gentleman in considering it to be an abnormal specimen of 

 Accipiter nisus. 



■ Yours, &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



Northrepps, November 24, 1877. 



Sirs, — I beg to forward for insertion in ^ The Ibis' an 

 interesting notice with which I have been favoured by 

 Major Fitzgerald, of Framingham Hall, Norfolk, on the 

 subject of a fine specimen of Huhua nipalensis which lived 

 several years in his possession, and which I had an oppor- 

 tunity of inspecting after it was stuffed. 



Mr. Roberts, an experienced birdstuffer in Norwich, by 

 whom this Owl has been mounted, informs me that it 

 proved on dissection to be a female, and that the irides 

 were a rich hazel with a very slight ochraceous tinge. 



Major Fitzgerald tells me that this species " is not strictly 

 nocturnal in its habits.'^ 



Yours &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



Huhua nipalensis. — This specimen was taken from the 

 nest, in a tree, in the Darjeeling District, Himalaya, either 

 in the year 1861 or 186.2, and from that period until Sep- 

 tember 1877 lived in my possession. 



As well as I can remember, the bird was a solitary nestling, 

 and took several months to assume its first plumage fully. 

 Its food in confinement consisted of rabbit-flesh, rats, hedge- 

 hogs. 



The Huhua is not a common bird, but is met with in most 

 parts of the Himalaya in the more temperate valleys. The 



