232 Letters, Announcements, tyc. 



Marldon, near Totnes. 



loth February 1873. 



Sir, — I am desirous of availing myself of the pages of l The 

 Ibis ' for the purpose of recording the existence in Damara- 

 Land of a bird which was not included in my edition of the 

 late Mr. Andersson's Damara notes, but which subsequently 

 to the publication of that volume has come to my knowledge 

 as being entitled to a place in the fauna of that country. 



This is Graculus lucidus, Licht., as to which I am indebted 

 to Mr. Malin, Curator of the museum of Gothenburgh, for 

 the knowledge of the existence of two specimens presented 

 by Mr. Andersson to that collection, and obtained by him 

 in Walvisch Bay on the 2nd and 22nd October 1863. 



In connexion with the volume above referred to, I may 

 perhaps, without impropriety, recur to the question (which 

 seems to me to be raised by the editorial remarks in p. 92 of 

 the last number of ' The Ibis ') as to the use of generic names 

 of a barbaric character, whether the rule of priority ought 

 not to be applied as strictly to generic and subgeneric names 

 as to those which are specific. 



My own view is that the rule of priority should be observed 

 in all these cases, and for this reason — namely, that, so far as 

 I can judge, it is impossible to define the degree of barbarism 

 which ought to cause an only or an oldest existing name to 

 be ignored. 



I endeavoured to follow this rule in my edition of Anders- 

 son's notes, and in doing so I used " Kaupifalco " as an older 

 term than its synonym " Asturinula," and " Hagedashia " as 

 the only name yet published for the restricted subgeneric 

 group of two species which it was intended to denote. 



I am yours, &c. 



J. H. GlTRNEY. 



Sir, — The identification of the females and immature birds 

 of the genus Circus has caused a good deal of perplexity ; and 

 I would therefore call attention to some specific distinctions 

 which I have recently noticed in the four Harriers found in 

 Europe, and which, strange to say, do not appear to have 



