3 Dr. T. C. Jerdon's Supplementary Notes 



at issue on the subject of an alleged species distinct from F.pere- 

 grinato?', which he proposed to call F. atriceps." 



Now Mr. Hume originally regarded atriceps as F.peregrinator, 

 as Colonel Delme RadclifFe still does ; but having been led to 

 reconsider the subject, very properly, according to my views, 

 abandoned his former determination, and called it atriceps. 

 He sent this specimen to Europe; and it has been examined by 

 M. Verreaux, of Paris, and Mr. Gurney, neither of which ex- 

 perienced ornithologists thought of referring it to F.peregrinator; 

 but the former regarded it as identical with F. melanogenys of 

 Australia, whilst the latter accepted it as a good species. More- 

 over Mr. Hodgson, who had procured it in Nepal, gave it a 

 distinct name, micritrus, and has figured it in two or three dif- 

 ferent states of plumage ; whilst to peregrinator, which appears 

 so rare in Nepal that he has only one drawing of it, he gives 

 his name sultaneus, considering it the true shahin. 



It appears to me that Col. Delme Radcliffe^s objections 

 to the separation of two such well-marked birds are entirely 

 founded on the fact that he has not seen a specimen of true 

 peregrinator. He candidly confesses that his specimens have 

 "principally been from northern or north-western India;" and 

 in this lies, as I believe, the gist of his opposition. He has 

 been accustomed to hear the atriceps called shahin by his native 

 falconers, and concluded that it must be peregrinator. If 

 Colonel Delme RadclifFe will examine the specimens of pere- 

 grinator verus {my F. shaheen) , or even compare the figure of 

 Gould, or those of my old illustrations, I am confident that such 

 an accurate observer as he has shown himself to be will allow 

 the two birds to be quite distinct. 



Fam. TrogoniDjE, p. 200. 



I state erroneously that the Trogous are without caeca. They 

 have rather large cseca. 



117. Merops viridis. 



Stoliczka obtained this bird in Southern Kulu in summer. I 

 have never myself observed it in the interior of the hills. 



118. Merops philippensis should, it appears, stand as 



