Mr. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue of Accipitres. 277 



the females of the smaller apparently differ but little in 

 size. The larger of the two species {H. novcB-zealandia) 

 would seem to have become very scarce ; and I know no 

 recent instance of its having been sent to this country. 



I propose now to consider the cluster of species which 

 Mr. Sharpe has associated under the generic title of Cerch- 

 neis, and which appears to rae to include three natural 

 groups sufficiently distinct to be treated as at least sepa- 

 rate subgenera, bearing the several names of Dissodectes, 

 Tinnunculus, and Erythropus. 



The subgeneric name Dissodectes was proposed by Mr. 

 Sclater in the P. Z. S. for 1864, p. 248, for the following 

 species — D. ardesiacus, D. dickinsoni *, and D. zoniventris ; 

 MM, Milne-Edwards and Grandidier introduce into their 

 article on the last-named species the following apposite 

 remarks, which are equally applicable to the other two 

 members of the subgenus f : — " Le faucon ^ ventre raye a 

 les ailes courtes et n'appartient point par consequent au 

 sous-genre Hypotriorchis, . . . ce n'est pas non plus un 

 ^salon ; sans sa coloration speciale, il se rattacherait plutot 

 au genre de Crecerelles ; son bee gros et fort, ses pattes 

 puissantes, et surtout sa queue allongee rappellent en effet, 

 tout en les exagerant, certains caracteres de ce groupe, trop 

 naturel cependant pour qu^on y introduise, sous peine d'en 

 rompre Tuniformite, un oiseau aussi dissemblable sous le 

 rapport du plumage .^^ 



Mr. Sclater (/. c), after describing the type specimens of 

 D. dickinsoni. adds the following remark : — " The general 

 form of this bird is completely that of Falco ardesiacus 

 (Vieill.) of Western Africa ; together with that bird and 

 Falco zoniventris, Peters, of Madagascar, it evidently forms 

 a distinct section among the Hobbies {Hypotriorchis), for 



* Mr. Sliarpe gives this name as " Dickerscmi" following an error of 

 my own in ' The Ibis ' for 1869, p. 444 ; but Dr. Sclater assures me that 

 the name of the discoverer of this species was correctly given in his 

 original description of the bird as Dickinson, and the specific name must 

 therefore stand as dickinsoni. 



t Vide Ois. de Madagascar, vol. i. p. 35. 



SER. IV. VOL. V. U 



