135 [Vol. xlii. 



tail 178 mm., thus agreeing closely with the African ? ; 

 another (J from " Siberia" has the wing 258 and tail 173 mm. 

 I am also showing four European birds for comparison, 

 together with an immature ^ in worn winter plumage from 

 (>eylon which has a wing 264 mm. and tail of 194 mm., 

 without allowing for the wearing, measurements which I 

 feel cannot be even approached by any European example. 

 Needless to say, the chief difficulty with the Siberian race is 

 that we have only five or six skins to work on, and those not 

 from Northern Siberia. Many Indian winter migrants are to 

 be found in the Tring and British Museum collections with 

 similar or larger measurements, including in the latter 

 collection male birds from Sikkim with wings of 261- 

 267 mm. and tails of 175 to 189 mm. These birds obviously 

 breed far to the north (as Indian, Persian, and even Central 

 Asian breeding birds are small dark birds), and the only 

 race we can refer them to is the North-Asian one. Of 

 course, more or less typical birds from Central and West 

 Asia also occur in India in the winter, together with the 

 breeding race (C. tinnunculus interstinctus). I summarise 

 the measurements for the two races as follows : — 



Wing. Tail. 



C. tinnunculus tinnunculus (Europe and Central 



Asia).. J 230-247 158-1G5 



„ „ „ „ .. 2 245-260 165-172 



C. tinnunculus dorriesi (Siberia) cJ 250-258 172-173 



„ „ „ 2 260-264 178-180. 



„ „ (India and E. Africa) . . J 250-267 172-194 



„ „ „ „ . . $ 260-267 178-200. 



A short discussion followed, in which Dr. Ticehurst said 

 that his investigations did not agree with Mr. Kirke Swann's, 

 and he was unable to recognise the Siberian subspecies. , 



