1867.] UR- J- J. KAUP ON NISI AND ASTURES. 169 



which our Museum is indebted to the kindness of the late General 

 von Gagern, Herman von Rosenberg, Mr. Riedel, Mr. Cassalette, 

 and to the Museum of Leyden. 



My corrections of synonyms have thus been based upon actual 

 examination, and do not depend upon mere descriptions of other 

 naturalists. 



I have long ago given up so-called subgenera, and I have raised 

 all subgenera established by me formerly to the dignity of genera, 

 indicating the section or group by giving it the oldest and most 

 usual name in the plural, according to the plan introduced by the 

 late Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte. 



I give an outline sketch of several heads and of a wing of each of 

 the four Indian genera of the section Nisi or Accipitres of English 

 ornithologists, and I hope that henceforth the distinctions which I 

 make will be appreciated and not ignored, though the latter is by 

 far the easier. 



If we compare the head and the wing of the typical form of the 

 Nisi, viz. those of the genus Tachyspiza, the thought must occur to 

 each careful ornithologist that this genus possesses more character- 

 istic features than many of the newly created genera of other groups 

 of the class of birds. 



The tooth of the upper mandible is round and hangs down low ; 

 it is pressed to the front and separated from the tip of the beak only 

 by a sharp incision, and it overlaps the entire front half of the lower 

 mandible: this alone would justify us in separating T.soloensis from 

 all other species of Nisi. 



To this characteristic mark of the genus must be added that the 

 wing is longer and more pointed than that of the Nisi, and that the 

 length of the point of the wing (^77 mm.) is only equal to eleven 

 twenty-sixths of the length of the entire wing (182 mm.). 



Add to this that the third primary, and not the fourth, is the 

 longest, and that only the first, second, and third are emarginated 

 distinctly on the inner vane, and the fourth in a scarcely perceptible 

 manner, whilst in others the fourth and fifth are distinctly emargi- 

 nated ; moreover they have a proportionally short tarsus, and the 

 toes with soles rather wider near their bases. 



If we knew its manner of life with the familiarity of a Naumann 

 or a Brehm, we should find that T. soloensis flies better than all 

 other Nisi, and that its food, especially when it has young, consists 

 only of insects. We should see, in fact, that Tachyspiza represents 

 amongst the Nisi the Nauclerus, Hypotriorchis the Falcones, and 

 Erythropus the Tinnunculi. 



It would, however, be a mistake to place this strongly characterized 

 genus at the head or at the end of the Nisi, and to look upon the rest 

 of the Nisi sen Accipitres as an inseparable whole, because these latter 

 do not possess such a totality of distinguishing marks. If the long 

 point of the wing, with its third primary the longest and the second 

 a trifle shorter than the fifth, is a generic mark of the Tachyspiza, 

 the relative proportions of the point of the wing to the entire length 

 of the wing and the relative lengths of the primaries must also be 



