370 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, &^c. 



P. 20, No. 66. Buteo rufiventer, Jerdon, is referred by Mr. 

 Gurney to B. cirtensis of the 'Exploration de FAlgerie' {vide 

 Ibis, 1862, p. 362). I have seen but one Nilgiri specimen, 

 which is in the Calcutta Museum. This might well pass for one 

 of the many individual varieties of B. vulgaris, and numerous 

 examples from the N.W. Himalaya, several of which are in the 

 same collection, I consider to be unmistakeably B. vulgaris. 



P. 31. Is not Hemerodromus identical in form with Cursorius 

 bicinctusl to which the generic name Rhinoptilus was given by 

 Strickland ? 



P. 33. To the Arabic, French, and Latin names for the 

 " Herodias bubulcus" add the Hindustani appellation Gai Bogla 

 (literally " Cow Heron "), corrupted into cahoga by Pennant, 

 unde Ardea cahoga. 



P. 212. Prof. SchlegePs idea of the merely seasonal appear- 

 ance of the occipital crest in Spizaetus is altogether a mistake. 

 Neither is the crest of these birds characteristic of any particular 

 age. 



P. 217. Mr. Swinhoe fancies that I had only compared his 

 " Scops semiiorques " from Foochow with Himalayan specimens 

 of Scops lempiji. There are numerous examples of this bird in 

 the Calcutta Museum from S. India, and also from Malacca. 

 These exhibit slight local distinctions which are difficult to under- 

 stand — equally great with any presented by the Foochow bird. 



E. Blyth. 



Brigmeston House, near Amesbury, Wilts, 

 April 30th, 1863. 



It will no doubt be in the recollection of some of our readers, 

 that in our first volume (Ibis, 1859, p. 415) we announced that 

 the late Mr. J. D. Salmon had bequeathed his valuable cabinet of 

 Eggs to the Linnean Society, and we expressed a hope that it 

 would be there preserved intact. Our information has proved to 

 be correct ; but the result of the affair has, unfortunately, turned 

 out very different from what we anticipated. It was intimated 

 to the Council of the Society, shortly after that gentleman's death 

 (which took place on the 5th August, 1859), that tlie bequest 

 was conditional, and the stipulations required by his admini- 



