242 Dr. T. C. Jerdon's Supplementanj N'oies 



' Planches Coloriecs ' that I concluded they must be the same 

 bird ; but I find that that bird is now generally looked on as 

 the same as F. barbariis. 



With age the back of the adult becomes very pale slaty, and the 

 rufous of the head generally is somewhat paler than in younger 

 birds ; but Delme-RadclifFe states that he has seen some birds 

 with the head as red as that of the Turumti {Faico chicqucra). 



15. LiTHOFALCO ^SALON. 



The Merlin visits the Punjab and upper portions of the North- 

 west Provinces in winter. I have had several brought me cap- 

 tured near Umritsir ; and when out on a haw king-tour, my fal- 

 coners caught one not far from Delhi. It is called by the Pun- 

 jab falconers " Ret al turumti," or " Regi" but by Hindustanis 

 " Dourai " and " Dourela," a name which in ' The Birds of India ' 

 I have applied (no doubt on erroneous information) to the Hobby. 



The Merlin is usually trained for the Hoopoe, after which it 

 aflFords fair sport, and the quarry very often escapes. Occasionally 

 it is trained for Quail. 



17. TiNNUNCULUS ALAUDAHIUS. 



Mr. Hume puts a query of doubt to my notice of the Kestrel 

 breeding in May, June, and July. Why ? By his own showing 

 Captain Cock found in one nest only one egg, laid 27th May ; on 

 5th June there were three. When would the young birds have 

 left this nest ? 



18. Erythropus cexchris. 



Indian specimens of this bird differ somewhat from the Euro- 

 pean bird in the adult male plumage ; for in Indian and Chinese 

 examples the whole of the lesser, median, and greater wing- 

 coverts are bluish grey, whilst in the European bird the lesser 

 and median coverts are vinaceous red. Mr. Swinhoe was the 

 first to notice this, and, I believe, called the bird E. pekinensis; 

 but I see that in the excellent figures of this Falcon, both 

 in Buchanan's and Hodgson's drawings of birds, this mode of 

 coloration of the adult male is distinctly represented. Not 

 having seen a specimen in that plumage, I described the Euro- 

 pean adult in my 'Birds of India;' and Mr. Hume has appa- 

 rently done the same in his ' Scrap-book.' 



