140 Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



19. Spilornis bacha (Daud,). Malay Harrier-Eagle. 



Mr. Cassin, in the " Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia " for 1865, states (p. 3) that there 

 is in the Museum of the Academy a specimen which formed 

 part of a collection made by M. du Chaillu in the countries 

 adjoining the rivers Camma and Ogobai, in West Africa, and 

 that this specimen, in Mr. Cassin's opinion, belongs to the 

 species described by Le Vaillant under the name of " Le Bacha," 

 and usually considered to be identical with the Falco bido of 

 Horsfield. Mr. Cassin regards this specimen as proving con- 

 clusively that a species at least nearly allied to Spilornis cheela 

 and S. bido inhabits Africa. 



In calling attention to Mr. Cassin's remarks, I may add that, 

 so far as I know, the specimen to which he refers must be 

 unique, and it is much to be desired that an accurate figure of 

 it should be published for the guidance of those interested in 

 African ornithology. 



33. Helotaksus ecaudatus (Shaw). Bateleur-Eagle. 



This Eagle is found in Natal and also in the Transvaal ; and 

 Mr. Ayres has given (Ibis, 1859, p. 338, and 1863, p. 35) some 

 accounts of its habits as observed by him in Natal. 



I recently saw two young birds of this species, which were 

 brought alive to London by Mr. Thompson, an American col- 

 lector, who informed me that he obtained them, with the assist- 

 ance of a Caffre, from a nest situated in a lofty and rocky pre- 

 cipice by the side of a river a few miles above the town of 

 D'Urban, and that, as it was not convenient to him to remove 

 them immediately, he fastened them down to the ground at the 

 foot of the precipice, where the old birds fed them for several 

 days, until it suited him to take them away. The pale-backed 

 variety of the Bateleur, to which Prince Paul of Wiirtemberg 

 assigned the name of H.leuconotus, sometimes occurs in Southern 

 as well as in intertropical Africa"^. 



Whether these pale-backed birds are specifically distinct from 

 those of the ordinary colour is at present doubtful ; but the 



* [Respecting H. lencvnotus see Dr. voii Ileuglin's recent remarks (J. f. 

 O. 18G7, pp. 291, 292).— Ed.] 



