Letters, Announcements, ^c. 87 



respectively diverse, to a degree which it is justifiable to con- 

 sider generic, from their African representatives {Micronisus 

 sphenurus and M. hrachjdactylus, Aquila neevioides, Merops 

 viridissimus, Centropus monachus, Dicrurus divaricatus, &c., 

 Tchitrea melanogastra, Chatorhaa acacia, Oriolus galbula, 0. mo- 

 nacha and others, Pratincola hemprichi, Pa?-us leuconotus, Zo- 

 ster ops poliogastra, &c.), then I shall be wilUng to admit that 

 the circumstance of species being found in India is a good a 

 priori reason for believing that they belong to a different genus 

 from their African allies. But until these few difficulties have 

 been overcome, I shall wait for better structural distinctions 

 than have yet been pointed out before I admit the Indian Dry- 

 mcecce to be generically separated from their African relatives. 



In the July number of this year's ' Ibis' (1871), Dr. Jerdon 

 refers to a specimen of Hodgson's Buteo pluinipes, obtained by me 

 in Sikkira. The specimen is a female in good plumage, agreeing 

 admirably with Hodgson's description ; and it appears to me to 

 differ from all allied forms, including B.japonicus, in the small 

 size of the tarsal scutes, in front especially. I have described 

 the specimen at greater length in a paper to be published 

 shortly in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, together 

 with my other Sikkim collections. 



I remain, &c. 



W. T. Blanford. 



P.S. In what respect does Pellorneum subochraceum, Swinhoe, 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., April 1871, differ from P. tickelli? 

 J. A. S. B. 1859, p. 414. They appear to me to be identical. 



Sir, — With reference to Mr. Hume's statement in ' The Ibis,' 

 3rd ser. vol. i. p. 404, allow me to remark that Halia'etus alhi- 

 cilla never occurred to me in Lower Bengal, but that the spe- 

 cimen to which he refers is probably one of H. leucocephalus in 

 immature plumage, noticed in ' Journ. As. Soc, B.' vol. xxiv. 

 p. 253. It is easy to distinguish specimens set up from dry 

 skins from those which have been mounted immediately from 

 fresh ones, as were the four examples of H. leucoryphus noticed 



