Notes on Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitres. 209 



tion strongly confirmed their entire distinctness. With regard 

 to the mature males^ one fact requires notice. The mature B. 

 flavus of Western Europe seldom, perhaps never, has such pale 

 grey and white cheeks as the Indian examples have. The west- 

 ern birds are nearer to some forms of B. viridis ; but the cheeks 

 are not so dark as in that bird, and are streaked with white. 

 The supercilium, too, of B. flavus, in the fresh bird, is broader 

 and more distinct than in any form of B. viridis, which is 

 oftener without than with a supercilium. In India the two 

 species are much more distinct, and separation is always easy. 



In skinning these birds the supercilium very often suffers, 

 as well as the generally good condition of the head ; this ren- 

 ders identification difficult when the head is the only guide. 



I have been much struck by the careful details given by Mr. 

 Blanford in his work on the Zoology of Persia, He gives : — 

 1. locality, 2. date, 3. elevation at which procured (this is im- 

 portant in a mountainous country), 4. sex, 5. total length, 

 6. colour of bill, legs, and feet. All this information is valu- 

 able ; and if the collector be in ever so great a hurry, the one 

 point of date, even to the day of the month if possible, should 

 never be omitted. By this we can often tell whether the ex- 

 ample is mature, and where the species breeds, to a certainty. 

 Mr. Blanford knew all this ; and hence the completeness of his 

 details. I make these remarks in order to remind collectors 

 of what will greatly add to the value of their specimens. 

 These points are well known to most readers of ' The Ibis ;' but 

 some, in collecting, forget them. To register all these par- 

 ticulars may not be convenient, for want of time ; but the 

 month of the year should at all events not be forgotten. 



XIX. — Notes on a ' Catalogue of the Accipitres in the 

 British Museum,' by R. Bowdler Sharpe (1874). By J. H. 



GURNEY. 



[Continued from ser. 3, vol. vi. p. 493.] 



Under the subfamily " Aquilinse " Mr. Sharpe includes nu- 

 merous groups, several of which differ so widely from each 



