Letters, Announcements, H^c. 201 



I am in hopes that this notice will attract attention, and 

 that the critical examination of the specimen alluded to will 

 place beyond doubt the occurrence of Ross's Gull in the No- 

 vaya Zemlya Sea. How interesting it is thus to obtain, after 

 a lapse of fifty years, corroborative evidence that Sir James 

 Clark Ross was correct in determining this species as seen 

 by him to the north of Spitsbergen, during Parry's memorable 

 attempt to reach the North Pole ! 



Yours, &c., 



H. W. Feilden. 



Aldershot, 

 2nd February, 1878. 



SiKs, — I am anxious to put on record some additions to 

 the birds of Ceylon that have recently come to light, and 

 also to make some remarks upon some others. 



Spizaetus nipalensis (?) 



Spizaetus nipalensis, Kelaart, Prodromus F. Zeylauicae, 

 Cat. p. 114; Layard, Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 2, vol. xii. p. 98 ; 

 Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 411. 



Having had occasion to examine a large series of Spizaetus 

 nipalensis for the purpose of comparison with examples of the 

 Mountain Hawk-Eagle of Ceylon, I find that certain cha- 

 racteristics, diflPering from those presented by the Ceylonese 

 bird, are constant in the Indian form. I propose to point 

 them out here with a view to establish a ground for sepa- 

 rating the island bird as a distinct subspecies, at any rate. 

 Before noticing these peculiarities, I may remark that fully 

 adult birds from Nepaul are nearly always exceedingly dark 

 on the head, and have the whole of the centre of the chin and 

 gorge occupied by a very broad black stripe, having between 

 it and the equally black cheeks a space narrower than itself. 

 The coloration of the chest likewise is very dark, from youth 

 to the adult stage ; and more examples have a plain brown 

 feather than one with undulations of white at the lateral 

 margins. The distinctive character of the under surface, as 

 compared with that of the Ceylonese form, consists in the 

 white bars on the breast, flanks, and belly being, in all cases. 



