Letters, Announcements, ^c. 363 



Whitclial], Colchester, 28th April, 1871. 

 Dear Sir, — I beg leave to offer a few remarks on Dr. Jerdoii's 

 supplementary Notes to 'The Birds of India/ in which he has 

 done me the honour frequently to mention my name. 



Gypaetos barbatus. 



I entirely concur with Dr. Jerdon and my friend Mr. Hume 

 in considering this Vulture most nearly allied to the Neophron. 

 I have had opportunities during several years of narrowly ob- 

 serving its habits at all seasons of the year, in the interior of 

 the Himalayas, in the plains of the North Punjab, and in the 

 Salt range ; and I cannot believe what " it is said at times " 

 to do in the way of " carrying off Pheasants, Chuckor Par- 

 tridges, and occasionally young Lambs." I have never wit- 

 nessed a sign of any attempt by it to carry off any living creature 

 whatever ; nor could I hear from any European observers, or 

 from natives worth talking to on the subject, that their experi- 

 ence varied from my own. Moreover its iVeo^jAro^i-structure 

 and movements ai'e entirely at variance with these stories of its 

 active rapacity, which I look upon as emanating from delusions 

 of the ignorant. Captain Cock, now Station Staff Officer at 

 Thelum, in the Salt range, took the eggs from a nest in the 

 lower ranges of the Himalaya, two marches from E-awul Pindee. 



Falco peregrinus. 



I think it is beyond doubt that no instance of the breeding of 

 this Palcon has occurred within the limits of British India. 

 My careful inquiries among natives of rank, as well as among 

 professional falconers and birdcatchers, during a recent sojourn 

 of more than three years and a half in Peshawur and its vicinity, 

 lead me to believe that it does not breed even so near India as 

 Swat, Bonair, Cabul in Affghanistan, or in any of the neigh- 

 bouring hill-countries. 



Falco peregrinatob. 



Falco atriceps. 



I hardly understand Dr. Jerdon's statement that " another 

 species of Falcon appears to have been mistaken for it" (speaking 

 o{ F. peregrinator) "both by Mr. Hume and Col. Delme Had- 



