NOTES. 411 



the throat, no white behind the eye, the cheeks and the whole 

 space behind the eye being black. The entire bill is black ; there 

 are no pale margins to any of the feathers of the wing which 

 are a rich dark metallic green. 



The two birds look so different that it is only the possession 

 of a large series bridging over the difference between the two 

 forms that has enabled me to make certain that they are one 

 and the same species. 



Of course the young again are quite as different from the 

 ordinary adult as is the old adult from this latter, but the 

 young I have already noticed on former occasions (ante, II., 

 310, &c.) 



It may be well to note that, re-examining my Swifts, I find that 

 those from Kurrachee, the Mekran Coast and Muscat are C. pal- 

 lidusj of Shelly, while all our Swifts from Kandahar, Murri and 

 Cashmere are identical with specimens from Pekin sent to me 

 as pekinensis by Mr. Swinhoe. 



I must say however that I doubt the expediency of sepa- 

 rating this latter. This much may be said that, as a whole, 

 pekinensis has a larger extent of white on the throat and fore- 

 neck than apus, and that its general color is a trifle lighter than 

 that of apus. Generally the interscapulary region in apus is 

 perceptibly darker and blacker than the same parts in pekinensis, 

 but I have a female from Hampstead, killed on the 20th June 

 1869, that so far as color goes is absolutely identical with a 

 Pekin specimen killed on the 7th June 1868 — the only points 

 of difference that can be selected being the slightly paler fore- 

 head and the somewhat greater extent of white on the throat. 

 I raust say I doubt the propriety of separating the Chinese and 

 Indian birds from ajius on such very slender grounds. 



Mr. Chill has recently sent me a fine male of Querquedula 

 falcata, making the fourth male of this species that 1 have ob- 

 tained or received. I have been rather puzzled at gettincf no 

 females, but on examining the only female of this species that I 

 possess, I have no doubt whatsoever that these are universally 

 passed over as female Gadwalls. 



Indeed the two birds are so extremely like each other, and the 

 bills are so very nearly the same size and shape, that this is not 

 to be wondered at, although in the female falcata the whole 

 upper mandible is uniformly dark coloured, whereas in the 

 female Gadwall it is only dark along the culmen. But it is in 

 the speculum of the wing that the difference between the two 

 species is most readily discernible. 



