Notes on Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitres. 353 



tend ; and that this is the case I am certain, for it was so 

 remarkable on crossing these hills^ both in going and coming. 

 On the 10th April we arrived once more in Tonghoo, after 

 a pleasant trip of five weeks^ in which time between two and 

 three hundred miles had been traversed by our party. 



XXX. — Notes on a ' Catalogue of the Accipitres in the British 



Museum' by R. Bowdler Sharpe (1874) . By J. H. Gurney. 



[Continued from page 236.] 



(Plate VI.) 



Under the genus Astur Mr. Sharpe includes upwards of thirty 

 species, which, as it appears to me, are naturally divisible into 

 several subgeneric groups, to which I now propose to refer, 

 at the same time making observations on some of the species 

 of which these groups are composed. 



The first of these, to which the generic name of Astur n^iay 

 be applied in its restricted sense, consists of three species — A. 

 palumbarius, A. atricapillus, and A. hensti. 



With reference to Astur palumbarius, Mr. Sharpe remarks 

 that it apparently reaches beyond 60° N. lat. only in Scandi- 

 navia; but in ^The Ibis'' for 1873 (p. 58), it is recorded as 

 occurring also in the vicinity of Archangel. In addition to 

 the localities for this species given by Mr. Sharpe, I may 

 mention that the Norwich Museum possesses an adult pair 

 from Tangiers^, and that it also probably occurs in Japan, 

 as I have seen a Japanese painting which accurately repre- 

 sented an adult of this species. 



It may be desirable to remark, as the circumstance is not 

 referred to by Mr. Sharpe, that a considerable variation of 

 tint occurs in the immature specimens of Astur palumbarius, 

 some of them exhibiting a conspicuous ochraceous hue, espe- 

 cially on the underparts, which is more or less entirely ab- 

 sent in others, though there is no diflference in the form and 

 character of their markings. 



* [Cf Irby, Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 36.— Ed.] 



SER. III. VOL. v. 2 C 



