148 



10 



form ; for it measures only — culmen 1*6, wing 17 - 2, tail 8 - 05, tarsus 2*15 ; and Mr. Sharpe states 

 that a specimen (of the form he treats as a distinct species under the name of Pandion leucoce- 

 phalus) killed by Mr. Wallace in New Guinea had the wing 17 inches long. 



As regards the American bird, which Mr. Ridgvvay keeps distinct under the name of Pandion 

 haliaetus, var. carolinensis, I cannot agree with him that it is advisable to separate it from our 

 European bird. He says that " in eight out of twelve North-American adult specimens there is 

 but the slightest amount of spotting on the breast, in two of those none whatever, and in four 

 there is just a trace of these spots ;" and he adds that, if any European birds occur with the 

 breast immaculate, he will at once waive all claims to distinctness for the American bird. I 

 observe that in European examples the marking on the breast varies extremely ; and in the male 

 above described the markings are very faint indeed, as will be seen by the Plate. Dr. Severtzoff 

 informs me that in Turkestan he has obtained " three examples which had the breast white, with 

 only a few small lanceolate spots, scarcely visible." 



The specimens figured are : — on the one Plate an adult male, with the breast but slightly 

 marked, and an adult female with the marking strongly developed ; and on the second Plate a 

 young female and a nestling, — all four being the specimens above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, $ . Skane, Sweden, September 18th, 1874 (Meves) . b, <S . Southern France, December (Schliiter) . c, $ . 

 Sarepta, October (Moschler). d, 6 ad. Astrachan, April. e,pull. Astrachan (W. Schliiter). /, 2 . Gwadar, 

 Baluchistan, December 1871 (TV. T. Blanford). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders, 

 a, j . Malaga, Spain, December 4th. b, ? . Malaga, November 15th, 1872 (H. S.). 



E Mus. Norv. 



a, $ ad. Tangier (Favier). b, 6 , c, 2 ad. Natal (Ayres). d, 6 ad. India (Warwick), e, f. Amoy, China 

 (R. Swinhoe). g, ad. Australia (Warwick). h, 2 , i, S ad. Sydney (Strange). k, <J. New Caledonia 

 (Verreaux). l,juv. Canada (Hadcraft) . m. Gallina, Mississippi (Dyson) . n. Monterey (A. S. Taylor). 

 o,juv. Honduras (Calvert). p,juv. Jamaica (Rev. J. M. Phillips), q, ad. St. Croix (A. Newton). 



