530 NOTES. 



The following are the dimensions of a male taken from the 

 dry skin : — 



Length, 12 ; wing, 6 ; tail, from vent, 43 ; bill, at front 

 (covered for nearly - 4 with dense plumes), 22; tarsus, 1*9; 

 mid toe and claw, 097. 



I have been for years now humbly protesting that the two Fal- 

 cons which I have called sacer and Hendersoni are not identical. 

 I have never pretended to say which was the true sacer, nor 

 have I denied that Hendersoni might be the true sacer, while 

 what we in India call sacer may not be true sacer, and ouo-ht, 

 perhaps, to stand as cherug, Hodgs. All I have asserted was that 

 the bird we get in the Punjaub, where it is so common that I 

 have shot five in a morning, and which we in India call sacer and 

 which Schlegel figures as sacer, is quite distinct from the Falcon 

 ■which we get from Yarkand, the Shanghar of eastern Falconers, 

 and which occasionally strays into India. 



I was grieved to find that Mr. Gurney would not agree with 

 me; but my knowledge of our Indian sacer was such that I felt 

 perfectly convinced that Hendersoni would sooner or later be ac- 

 cepted as distinct. Now a second specimen of this latter species, 

 a young bird, has been brought from Yarkand by the expedition, 

 and now Messrs. Gurney, Sharpe, and others must pardon me 

 if I venture to assert that they are in error, and that Hendersoni 

 is perfectly distinct. 



I do not doubt that they have specimens of Hendersoni at 

 home labelled sacer, but what I submit for their consideration 

 is, that they have united under one name two different Falcons, 

 which, though structurally very similar, differ considerably in 

 plumage. 



My position is this, I have shot dozens of our Punjaub sacer ; 

 I have examined more than one hundred, and have now nearly 

 fifty before me. I have the bird from youth to extreme old 

 age ; from uniform dark brown nearly all over, to pale isabelline 

 above, with white head and white under parts only marked 

 with a few reddish isabelline spots ; nowhere is there room in 

 the series for either young or adult Hendersoni. The tails alone 

 seem to separate them. Sacer has the central tail feathers 

 plain or conspicuously marked with one to ten round or even 

 long oval spots ; never has our sacer a regularly barred tail. In 

 Hendersoni, on the other hand, both young and old have the 

 tails regularly and closely barred. 



I am sending home a series of six of our sacer, together with 

 the young Hendersoni, to be figured ; they will be in Mr. 



