﻿1874.] 



239 



Some OE"N-TTHOLoaTCAL Notes and Corrections. 

 By W. Edwin Brooks, 0. E. 



(Received August 2oth, read Nov. 4th, 1874). 

 TiNNUNCULUS Pekinensis, Swiiilioe. 

 I obtained a mature male, a young male in changing plumage, and an 

 adult female of this species, in April last, near Dinapore. They were, with 

 many others, hovering over the cleared p«f?6/y land close to the line of rail- 

 way. 



T, cenchns, Naum., it will be remembered, is distinct from the Indian 

 and Chinese species. 



Accipiter YiRGATUS, Temm. 

 J. A. S. B., 1872, p. 73. 



Mr. Hume saw the specimen procured in Cashmere by Capt. Cock, and 

 pronounced it to be an old male of Ac. nisus, Lin. ; in which I believe him 

 to have been correct. 



Aquila bifasciata. Gray and A. orient alis, Cab. 



With the addition of Mr. Anderson's specimens, I have now eight of 

 the latter species. Four are marked as males, as indeed their small size in- 

 dicates ; the average length of the wing in these is 20*09 inches. Of four 

 males of A. bifasciata — the first four I met with — the average of the wing is 

 2062 inches, or a trifle more than half an inch difference, which is quite 

 a trifling one for so lai'ge a bird as an eagle. The sexing of one of the four 

 females is certainly incorrect : this bird has a wing only 20.75 long : one of 

 the males has the wing 20.50 : showing a difference of only 0.25 in. between 

 male and female, which, in an eagle of this size, is far too small ; there should 

 have been a difference of 1.50 in. at least. Between the four males and 

 four females of A. bifasciata there is an average difference of 2.63 inches ; 

 I, therefore, need only contrast the males of each as regards size, using for 

 this purpose only this series of eight of each which I have before me. 



One of the objections to my identification of Aq, orientalis y^'iih A. 

 bifasciata was the alleged larger average size of the latter — a question which 

 must be left open till a reliable series of the European bird can be obtained, 

 i. e., reliable as regards sex. The European birds were mostly obtained from 

 the dealer Moeschler of Dresden, and there is much doubt about the speci- 

 mens marked as females, for they approach the males too closely in size. 



The other point of supposed difference was the darker tone of plumage 

 of the European bird. With regard to this, I find that the Indian species is 

 quite as dark. In fact, in the series now before me, the balance of darkness 

 31 



