Letters, Announceynents, ^c. 291 



served that some of these birds had dark bills^ others not so dark, 

 and some had light ones. The difference may be due to some 

 peculiarity of climate ; that it is specific I do not believe. I shot 

 one bird at Delhi, which has a dark bill and claws, the cere of a 

 deeper colour than the rest of the bare skin, and a few small 

 white feathers on the throat ; but had I chosen I could also have 

 procured close to this bird one with a light bill, and a complete re- 

 presentative of our more southern bird ; in size, proportion of the 

 wings to tail, and other points these birds vary a little, and in 

 colour of the bill they vary much. I could not procure a black- 

 billed one here at Etawah, nor could I at Almorah, which is 

 much further north than Delhi; but- at Delhi the black bills 

 are the rule. The one I shot has a dark bill ; but I saw many 

 others with the point of the bill nearly or quite hjack. 



Between this and Delhi there must be a part of the country 

 where light and dark bills will be equally common ; and north 

 and west of Delhi there will be a place where the weakly birds 

 with pale bills will never be found. I have no doubt that dark- 

 and light-billed birds will sometimes be found breeding together ; 

 a dark-billed male and light-billed female, or vice versa. Mr. 

 Blyth, not having seen dark-billed birds in India, was quite 

 justified in thinking then that our pale-billed bird was of another 

 species. With the aid of a powerful glass I examined every 

 Neophron I saw at Delhi ; and few indeed had light bills. 

 I remain, yours faithfully, 



W. E. Brooks. 



Glasgow, 4th February, 1870. 



Sir, — Having been engaged for some years in the preparation 

 of a work on the Birds of Scotland, I have personally niade 

 particular inquiries throughout almost every county regarding 

 the occurrence of the rarer species, and have been rewarded by 

 the acquisition of many facts of interest, which I have no doubt 

 will serve a useful purpose when they are published. 



Among birds of this class that have lately come into my 

 hands, I find about half a dozen species that are not mentioned 

 in the last edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds ' ; and as two of 

 these possess an additional interest from the fact that, being 



