Notes on Mr. R. S. Sharpens Catalogue of Accipitres. 547 



XLV. — Notes on a 'Catalogue of the Accipitres in the British 

 Museum' by R. Bowdler Sharpe (1874). By J. H, 



GURNEY. 



[Continued from p. 472.] 



I HAVEj before continuing my remarks upon the genus Tin- 

 nunculus, to correct an error of the printer at p. 465 ; the 

 four female Kestrels there placed under the head ofT. in- 

 terstinctus/' should have been included amongst the " Chinese 

 females respecting which I am doubtful whether they should 

 be referred to T. interstinctus or to T. Japonicus/' 



The various races of Kestrels inhabiting the continent of 

 America and the West-Indian Islands, to which I now pro- 

 pose to refer, have given rise to considerable divergence of 

 views amongst ornithologists ; and it is therefore with much 

 diffidence that I oflPer an opinion on the subject; but it seems 

 to me that the following species may properly be recog- 

 nized : — 



Tinnunculus sparverius (Linn.), with T. einnamominus 

 (Swains.), and T. antillarum (Gmel.) as subspecies. 



T. isabellinus (Swains.). 



T. dominicensis (Gmel.) = leucophrys, Ridgw. 



T. sparveroides (Vig.). 



Of these the last three possess one character in common, 

 viz. that the oldest males become immaculate on the under 

 surface of the body^, whilst in T. sparverius, although the 

 spots on the breast of the male diminish with age, both in 

 number and size, they never altogether disappear, which, so 

 far as I can judge from the limited number of specimens that 

 I have examined, is also the case in the males of T. einnamo- 

 minus and T. antillarum. 



Between Mr. Sharpens method of arranging these Kestrels 

 and my own there are but few differences ; and to these I 

 propose to refer in the order in which they arise, availing 



* I have seen T. isabellinus and T. dominicensis (= leucophrys) absolutely 

 immaculate on tlie breast, abdomen, and flanks, and T. sparveroides with 

 only two indistinct spots on one side of the abdomen. 



