Letters, Announcements, ii^c. 515 



no hesitation in making known the breeding-place of one of 

 our rarer summer visitors. 



I remain^ &c. &c., 



A. B. Brooke. 

 10th July, 1875. 

 Cardney, Dunkeld, N.B. 



Dear Sir, — My late colleague, Mr. Sharpe, in his ' Cata- 

 logue of Accipitres/ amongst other alterations of well-known 

 names, changes that of the Lesser Kestrel to Cerchneis nau- 

 manni (Fleisch.), on the authority of a footnote in Naumann^s 

 Naturg. Vog. Deutschl. i. p. 318, without having had an op- 

 portunity of consulting the original description by Fleischer, 

 as is evident from his reference. When in Germany a short 

 time ago, I came across the periodical referred to by Nau- 

 mann ; and having succeeded in securing the volume contain- 

 ing the article on the Lesser Kestrel, I therefore trust I 

 may be permitted to make a few remarks on the subject. 

 The periodical in question is a small 12mo popular almanack, 

 intended for foresters and sportsmen, the title being as fol- 

 lows — ' Sylvan, ein Jahrbuch fiir Forstmanner, Jager und 

 Jagdfreunde/ and the editors are C. P. Laurop and V. F. 

 Fischer, both officers in the forest department of the Grand 

 Duchy of Baden . It contains short biographies of well-known 

 sportsmen, articles on sporting subjects, mixed anecdotes, 

 short poems, and a few popular notes on animals likely to in- 

 terest a forester. The article by Fleischer is one on Montagu's 

 Harrier and the Lesser Kestrel, and is in the issue for 1817 

 and 1818 (pp. 173-176), which were published together late in 

 1818, or eai'ly in 1819; for I find that ' Sylvan' appeared some- 

 what irregularly, and in many instances two years' issue were 

 published at the same time. The article in question is in the 

 form of a letter, and though, as above stated, it was not pub- 

 lished until 1818 or 1819, bears date "Leipzig, autumn 

 1817," Fleischer states that in a letter from Temmiuck 

 he had heard of a new Hawk, which he proposed should 

 be called Falco naumanni, in honour of Naumann, and which, 

 he adds (p. 175), was ''first discriminated by Natterer, of 



