534 Letters, Announcements, £fc. 



perhaps extending southward along the east coast of the Penin- 

 sula^ Herr von Pelzeln's specimens belonged of course to the 

 latter. The birds are migratory, and cross the Himalayas twice 

 a year, the eastern and western forms doubtless crossing, if they 

 do not also breed in, the eastern and western Himalayas re- 

 spectively. In suggesting that E. leucura is only found, in 

 India, in Bengal, I by no means intended to say, as Mr. Blyth 

 has understood me to say, that it is not found out of India. I 

 have obtained it myself in Pegu; Mr. Swinhoe mentions its 

 occurrence in Hainan [supra, p. 247) ; and I have seen specimens 

 from China. With respect to the distribution of E. jjcirva, I 

 would particularly call attention to Mr. Hume's observations 

 (J. A. S. B. 1870, p. 116), which completely confirm my sug- 

 gestion of its being the only species found in Western and 

 North-western India. Mr. Hume also concurs with me in be- 

 lieving Circus melanoleucus to be restricted to the eastern part 

 of the Peninsula. These are very interesting instances of the 

 fact, to which Mr. Swinhoe called attention (Ibis, 1867, p. 234), 

 of the great line of division in the Indian peninsula between 

 eastern and western migratory forms, and form part of the 

 evidence on the strength of which I dispute the lumping of the 

 fauna of India proper with that of the so-called and (in my 

 humble opinion) miscalled " Indian Region " , a subject on which 

 I hope to have more to say soon. 



I take this opportunity of apologizing to the Zoologisch- 

 botanische Gesellschaft of Vienna for having attributed to them 

 in my recent work (Geol. and Zool. Abyssinia, p. 211) the publi- 

 cation of Dr. von Heuglin's " Systematische Uebersicht der 

 Vogel Nordost-Afrika's ", that paper having been published in 

 the ' Sitzungsberichte ' of the Vienna Academy ; and I much 

 regret my mistake in blaming the wrong body for its publication. 

 I am indebted to Dr. Finsch for calling my attention to ray 

 blunder. I am, &c., 



W. T. Blanford. 



16 August, 1870. . 

 Sir, — In * The Ibis ' for the present year {supra, p. 135), re- 

 ference is made to a paper contributed by Mr. Walter Buller to 



