BIRDS OF UPPER PEGU. 19 



Mr. Oates remarks : " G. indicus, though nowhere in great 

 numbers, is not uncommon in small parties near villages. It is 

 seldom, however, that more than twenty are ever seen in one place, 

 or about one carcase. Amongst these, two or three 0. calvus are 

 generally to be seen appropriating all the tit-bits, and if the meal 

 seems likely to run short, driving away the others. These are 

 the only two species that I have noticed. I may add that vultures 

 here have never anything larger than a dog to feed on. A dead 

 horse or cow is a thing never seen* in Upper Pegu." 



5.— Gyps bengalensis, Lath. 



I have received a specimen from near Thayetmyo ; it occurs 

 we know as far south at any rate as Tavoy. 



8. — Falco peregrhms, Lin. 



Captain Feilden says : " Though I sent you no specimen, I 

 have shot the Peregrine near Thayetmyo." Mr. Oates, too, has 

 sent me a specimen, a nearly two-year old bird, shot at Prome on 

 the 23rd of November, but I think we may conclude that it occurs 

 in Upper Pegu as a straggler only. 



15 bis.— Polihierax Feildeni, Hume. P. insignis, 

 Walden, 



I retain my own name for this remarkable and beautiful species, 

 since, so far as I can learn, (though in this I may be in error,) 

 mine was the first published description. Prior to its publication 

 a specimen had been exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, with an intimation that Lord Walden intended to 

 publish it under the name of insignis; but such an exhibition 

 does not constitute publication any more than showing a bird to 

 a party of friends and telling them you intend to name it so and 

 so. Of course it does not in the least signify which of the two 

 names stands, but mine under strict rule has, I believe, priority. 



It is curious that a species so very remarkable in its appear- 

 ance, and so common in the neighbourhood of what has for so 

 many years been a British cantonment, should have entirely 

 escaped observation until the close of 1871, when specimens 

 were received both by Lord Walden and myself. I considered it 

 nearly allied to the Merlins — in fact, a link between the Merlins 

 and the Chiqueras — and this is the situation which I should still 

 assign to it. Lord Walden, however, has pointed out that it will 

 properly fall under the African genus Polihierax, and I have 

 adopted his correction. 



Captain Feilden says that " it is pretty common about Thayet- 

 myo." Mr. Oates, writing from this latter locality, remarks : 

 " Not uncommon here ; keeps entirely to the dry forests of 



* Because the people eat them themselves.— a. o. h. 



