Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipiti'es. 3G5 



generic name for Astur approximans and the following species, 

 which I think may correctly be associated with it, viz, 

 cruentus of Gould, torquatus of Temminck, wallacii of Sharpe, 

 rufitorques of Peale, henicogrammus of Gray, griseigularis of 

 Gray, muelleri of Wallace, sylvestris of Wallace, hiogaster of 

 Miiller and ^c]Ae^e\., poliocephalus of Gray, haplochrous* of 

 Sclater, and albigularis of Gray. 



I have nothing to add to Mr. Sharpens remarks on these 

 species, except that I would observe that Urospizias henico- 

 grammus, which is treated as a subspecies of U. griseigularis, 

 appears to me to be well entitled to full specific rank, on 

 account of its very peculiar rufescent immature plumage, 

 which, as Mr, Sharpe justly remarks, recalls the corre- 

 sponding dress of Erythrospizias trinotatus. 



In the next subgenus, Leucospizias, I would include the 

 following species, viz. novae hollandice, leucosomus, and 

 cinereus. 



The remaining subgenus, Tachyspizias, consists of Astur 

 soloensis and A. cuculoides of Mr. Sharper's Catalogue. These 

 are described and figured as distinct species, which they 

 perhaps are, though they certainly appear to merge into each 

 other in a remarkable manner. 



Mr. Sharpe gives as the habitat of the first, " China, from 

 Pekin southwards throughout the Malayan peninsula and the 

 archipelago generally to New Guinea ; " and of the second, 

 " North China southwards to the Moluccas ;" but both forms 

 occur in Java, and the Norwich Museum possesses an adult 

 of each collected in that island by the late Dr, Bernstein, who 

 considered them as both belonging to the same species. 



Mr. Sharpe describes the iris in the adult of the darker 

 form as yellow ; and an adult female in the Norwich Museum, 

 obtained by Mr. Swinhoe at Amoy, was marked by him as 

 having the iris " orange.^^ 



The iris in the paler form is stated to be dark brown ; and 

 an adult specimen in the Norwich Museum, brought from 



* This species was figured in ' The Ibis ' for 18G0, not in the P. Z. S. for 

 that year, as inadvertently stated in Mr. Sharpe's list of references. 



