158 Mr. Blyth's Notes relating 



malayan bird usually referred to G.Julvus (the G. indicus, Temm., 

 and of Schlegel, passim) should not also be regarded as distinct, 

 I will leave to Mr. Gurney to decide ; he at least inclines to the 

 opinion that it should be so recognized. I met him in the 

 Leyden Museum^ and examined with him several of the more 

 or less disputed species of Birds of Prey. He called my attention 

 to certain peculiarities of the large Himalayan Gyps, especially 

 to its much paler under parts and the striped appearance of the 

 young as compared with the European G. fulvus ; but really 

 good and well-prepared specimens, in different stages of plumage, 

 of the Himalayan bird are still much needed to enable us to 

 arrive at a determinate conclusion ; and I may take the oppor- 

 tunity of remarking that a good series of G. indicus (verus) is 

 also wanted in every European museum that I know. Can it 

 be that both G. fulvus and G. indicus, apud Temminck, inhabit 

 the Himalayas, and that the latter is the bird which Mr. A. O. 

 Hume has recently distinguished by the name G. fulvescens (Ibis, 

 1869, p. 356) ? In the 'Field' newspaper for October 2nd, 

 1869 (p. 291), there is a notice (translated from the Russian) of 

 M. Severtsoff's explorations in the Thian Shan range, in the 

 course of which is mentioned " the enormous Vultur indicus, 

 measuring 9 ft. 5 in. across the wings.^^ I can only suppose that 

 the Himalayan representative of Gyps fulvus must be the bird 

 intended. 



AcciPiTER NisoiDES {A. gulaHs, Schleg.) and A. virgatus 

 are now considered by Prof. Schlegel to be identical ; but look- 

 ing carefully over the extensive series of specimens in the Leyden 

 Museum with Mr. Gurney, we arrived at the opinion that they 

 should be kept apart. If A. nisoides be only a phase (or rather 

 phases of the two sexes) of A. virgatus, why should it not be of 

 common occurrence in India, like the ordinary A. virgatus ? 

 which assuredly is not the case. It is even doubtful whether A. 

 nisoides occurs in India at all, unless rarely in the Himalaya, 

 whither so many other eastern species extend their range, which 

 do not occur in India southward of the Himalaya. The speci- 

 men referred, doubtfully, to A. nisoides by Dr. F. Stoliczka 

 (J. A. S. B. 1868, p. 13) should rather be assigned, as it ap- 



