not observed in the British Isles' 91 



the Hebrides. Schlegel, as we have shown, has effectually dis- 

 posed of the reported German and Swiss specimens ; and no one 

 has been venturous enough to declare that the continent of Asia 

 (supposing the birds to reach the old world by the Pacific route) 

 owns its presence. Let our readers take our word for it, the 

 Bald Eagle is not a European bird ; and if it ever occurs on this 

 side the Atlantic, it will be merely as an escaped captive or a 

 chance wanderer on a filibustering expedition ; and we exceed- 

 ingly regi-et that Mr. Bree, who has herein acted against the 

 advice of his " discreet adviser," has thought fit to assist in 

 prolonging a very grave mistake. A little more attention 

 would have revealed to him that the authorities, of whom he 

 quotes a strong list to support his view of the case, have been 

 merely copying from each other, instead of citing fresh testi- 

 mony; and one of the best of them, the late Prince C. L. Bo- 

 naparte, in his last publication on the Birds of Europe, has 

 reversed his former opinion, and enumerated H. leucocephalus in 

 the * Liste d'oiseaux que Von fait passer pour Europeens' re- 

 marking of it, " confondu avec Hal. albicilla." 



Mr. Bree has, in our opinion, exercised a wise discretion in 

 refusing a place in his work to the South-African Cuncuma 

 vocifer of Mr.G.R.Gray ; for we quite agree with him in thinking 

 the evidence of this bird's occurrence in Greece too slight, 

 resting, as it does, merely on the tickets of two specimens in the 

 Museum at Mayence, and uncorroborated by any testimony on 

 the part of Count Henry von der Muehle. 



Our author makes an astonishing assertion, and one entirely 

 contrary to fact, in stating that " the Short-tail Eagle forms the 

 sole representative of the genus Circa'etus of Vieillot," since 

 Mr. Gray (Gen. B. p. 16, and App. p. 1) makes ten. Dr. Kaup 

 (Contr. Orn. 1850, pp. 71, 72) sixteen, and the late Mr. Strick- 

 land* (Orn. Syn. i. pp. 45-48) eight species of that group. We 



* Of these eight species of Circaeti, it is now known that C.ferox is 

 Buteo leucurus, Naum. (B. rufinus of Mr. Bree's book) ; C. cinereus is the 

 voiing of C. pectoralis ; Circa'etus solitarius of S. America is no Circa'etus, 

 but nearly alHed to the genus HarpyhalicBetus (of which C. coronatus is 

 the type), and the only member of M. Jules Verreaux's division Urubitor- 

 nis (P. Z. S. 1856, p. 145) ; and C. cinerascens of Miiller is a Buteonine 

 bird (('(infer Pr. Bonaparte in Rev. Zool. Feb. 1855). This leaves only 



