450 Mr. J. H. Gurney on the Birds-of-prey 



specimen — a nestling, but nearly full-fledged, obtained at 

 Pomony in November 1863. 



17. Baza maDj^gascariensis (A. Smith). Madagascar Pern. 

 This species is figured by MM. Scblegel and Pollen [op. cit. 



pi. xvi.) ; but it seems to me that the plumage in which it is 

 there represented is immature, and that the bird in its adult 

 dress has not yet been obtained. I am not disposed to con- 

 cur in an opinion expressed to me by M. Jules Verreaux, that, 

 when the adult of the Madagascar Pern is procured, it will 

 prove to be specifically identical with the African B. cucu- 

 luides; for in the first the bill and feet are decidedly larger. 

 I formerly thought (c/. Ibis, 18G8, p. 143) that the Mada- 

 gascar bird might be distinguished from that of Afi-ica by its 

 broader rectrices ; but I find, on examination of the specimens in 

 the Paris Museum, that this is not a constant character, and 

 therefore reliance must not be placed on it. 



18. Pernis apivokus (Linn.). European Honey-Pern. 

 The British Museum contains a specimen of a Pernis which 



formed part of the collection of Sir Andrew Smith, and is labelled 

 as having been procured in Madagascar. I believe this bird 

 to be an immature example of P. apivorus, as it only differs (so 

 far as I can perceive) from the ordinary appearance of that species 

 in its immature dress in having a somewhat unusually elongated 

 and attenuated upper mandible. This, however, 1 do not regard 

 as a sufficient specific distinction, as I have observed a difference 

 in the comparative robustness of the bill in various European 

 examples of P. apivorus, and as the bill in this species is, as a 

 rule, considerably less robust than in P. cristatus. 



The description of Pernis madagascariensis, given by Sir. A. 

 Smith (S. Afr. Q. Journ. 1834, p. 285), appears to me not to 

 refer to the specimen in the British Museum, but to an example 

 of the species I have previously mentioned under the name of 

 Baza madagascariensis. 



19. Circus maillardi, Verreaux. Maillard's Harrier. 

 This Harrier was first described in M. Jules Verreaux^s notes 



to M. Maillard's work on Reunion, before mentioned (pp. 160, 

 161), and both sexes of it were figured in 'The Ibis ' for 1863 



