524 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



should form a kind of supplement to Mr. Jerdon's well-known 

 volumes. It naturally follows that such a compilation must be 

 of very unequal merit ; but that it will be of great service to 

 Indian ornithologists is not to be doubted. The author, v.e 

 think, in his preface depi'eciates his materials rather too un- 

 duly. Rough the notes are, essentially and avowedly ; but so are 

 diamonds before they are cut ; and if the exigencies of the occa- 

 sion have hindered him from presenting his jewels in an attrac- 

 tive form, he may be sure that he has among them some gems 

 that will finally repay for setting. But the value of this ' Scrap- 

 book ' lies not alone in what it contains ; it shows, and often 

 pointedly, in what direction further information is needed ; and, 

 unless we err, the latter character is the one likely to prove 

 most important. The notes in the part before us are of such a 

 length that they do not even reach to the end of the diurnal 

 Accipitres of India, but comprehend only the first two score of 

 Mr. Jerdon^s species, together with five others, of which three are 

 given as new, though, thanks to Mr. Hume, our readers have 

 been for some months acquainted with their diagnosis (Ibis, 1869, 

 p. 356), and the remaining two are inhabitants respectively of 

 the Andaman Islands and Ceylon. To Mr. Gurney we are in- 

 debted for pointing out some of the more interesting features of 

 this book, in some notes with which he has favoured us. Ac- 

 cording to him, the Himalayan Gyps fulvus, which Mr. Hume is 

 now inclined to separate as distinct, under the name of G. hima- 

 layensis (p. 12), is a good species, diff"eriug from the true G. Julvus 

 by having the fourth primary the longest. On the other hand, G. 

 fulvescens (Ibis, I.e.) Mr. Gurney considers to be the real G. fulvus 

 in its immature condition. Falco atriceps [I. c.) he is disposed 

 to accept as distinct, and informs us that examples of it are to 

 be found in the museums of Norwich and Leyden — the speci- 

 men in the latter (no. 6 of Prof. SchlegePs Mus. P.-B. Falcones, 

 p. 6) being labelled ''F. barbarus." It would seem that it is 

 Erythropus amurensis* (Ibis, 1868, p. 41, pi. ii.), and not E. 



* We regret to find that Drs. Hartlaub and Finsch have (Vog. Ost-Afr. 

 p. 74) given another name to this species. Surely the fact of calHng a bird 

 after the locality in which it was first discovered does not imply that it 

 occurs nowhere else ! 



