ADDITIONAL NOTES ON BIRDS COLLECTED, &C. 275 



SpMtiowil itotes ow givta roUectcb bcttoeen Mmmi ui 

 fegaoto in glag 1874. 



(Vide ante., p. 224.) 



By W. Edwin Brooks, C. E. 



The Editor has added sundry foot notes to my paper on the 

 birds observed between Mussoori and Gangaotri, some of which 

 require counter- notes. 



Milvus govinda, p. 229, Vol. III., 1875. 



Mr. Hume says : " Sykes's measurements were taken from 

 his dried skins." I don't think there is any reason for comiuo- 

 to such a conclusion,* but would prefer taking it for granted 

 that Sykes, being a good ornithologist, would not prefer the 

 comparatively worthless measurements from the skin when he 

 could measure in the flesh. It should be remembered he was 

 dealing, not with a foreign collection, but with one made in the 

 country, and, for all we know to the contrary, made by himself. 

 The lengths given for other species are fairly accurate, for 

 example Circus pallidas. Why should we conclude that the 

 Kite is stretched when the Harrier is not. 



The disposition of the large Kite is variable. This year I 

 have found them so tame that I have frequently passed within 

 10 or 12 yards of them seated on the telegraph posts along- 

 side of the Railway without their moving. I remember, on one 

 occasion, when 1 wished a friend to see the white patch under 

 the wing, that I had to direct the trolly-men to throw stones 

 at the bird to make it fly. Birds are only shy when they are 

 persecuted, and it would not do to infer any thing specific'from 

 shyness or the reverse. I notice that Mr. Hume still retains 

 the term "major,''' although Mr. Sharpe found it identical 

 with the types in the Leyden Museum. 



I think we have said enough about the Indian Kites, and it 

 only remains to be seen which bird Sykes's types are. There 

 certainly is not an Indian species intermediate between the 

 large bird and the small affinis.^ The large bird has not always 

 a clear patch of white under the wing ; — sometimes this part 

 of the primaries is only mottled with white. 



Hemichelidon sibiricus, Gml. 



There is one of Hodgson's specimens in the Indian Museum, 

 and it is identical with the common H. sibiricus. I sent home 

 examples, which were also found to agree perfectly with 



* But it really is a fact. Svkea never wrote his paper till after his return to 

 EiTKorE. — Ed. 

 f Well, I think; that there ?s,— Ed, 



