ae a ee ee 
Te 
7 + a 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES, 185 
the species is Vespertilio pachypus, Temminck (No, 180), and not V, pachyotis, 
Dobson (No, 179), so that the latter is still only represented by the type 
specimens in the Calcutta Museum, V pachypus, too, is an Assam-Malay ~ 
form, and it is interesting to find it plentifulin Kanara. That in these days of 
stress my natural history work has to be done in short snatches of leisure, is 
the explanation of my mistake, but is, I humbly recognise, ro excuse for it. 
The measurements of 11 specimens which I took immediately after death 
compare as follows with those recorded by Blanford and Dobson :— 
Head and Body. Tail. Forearm, 
Blanford (9 ) aes eee ree, Billed 26°25 26°25 
Dobson... aus nce is AGED 32°5 275 
Average of 49 ... ccc -. 40 31 29° 
Average o£ 7. ... aac eeu el . dl 29 
Several of my specimens gave 42 for head and body and one or two 33 for 
tail, but not one had a forearm of less than 28, and two or three had 30, 
Blanford’s measurements were probably from a spirit specimen, but evidently 
the Kanara form has a rather longer forearm than those from Assam, &c, 
In the same Journal I recorded a doubtful specimen of Haiptiocephalus 
tubinaris, Scully, taken by Colonel Fulton at Dharmsala, This specimen has 
since been kindly compared with the type by the Superintendent, Indian 
Museum, who declares it to be distinct, so that it is in all probability a new 
species. The rules of that institution require that specimens sent for com- 
parison with the type must be given to the Museum, an arrangement which 
handicaps any worker who cannot personally visit Calcutta, 
R. C. WROUGHTON, 
Poona, 6th January, 1900. 
No, IX BIRDS OF PREY. 
Will any member who hes had opportunities of observirg hawks ana 
eagles after they have struck down their geme, kindly inform me whether, 
when the feathers of the victim have been plucked out on the ground, the 
body is carried elsewhere to be eaten ? While wandering about the higher 
ranges of the. Himalayas, I have frequently come across the whole of the 
feathers of large birds, such as those of Mornal pheasants and Snow Cocks on 
the open hillside, which have, I conclude, been killed by ezgles. In no single 
instance have I been able to find any bones, or even the least irace of blood. 
On pointing this out to my shikari, he said that’ the bones had been eaten up, 
or carried off, by foxes ; this may be so no doubt, or what is more likely been 
taken off by vultures ——supposing the remains of the bird were left when it 
was struck down ; but I can scarcely believe that in every single instance 
I have come across the entire feathers of large birds, the absence of all other 
parts can be so accounted for, 
G.5. RODON, Masor, 
Duarwar, 12th January, 1900. 
24 
