612 



14 



Saunders's collection, from Seville, killed in October 1868, is very thickly barred on tbe under surface, several 

 of the cross bars being of a clear tawny colour ; bands on primaries seven, on tail six, on outer rectrix seven. 

 Total length 12'8 inches, culmen - 65, wing 7 - 5, tail 6 - l, tarsus 2*15, middle toe, without claw, 1*3. 



Canaries. Mr. F. Godman has been so kind as to lend us an adult male specimen procured by himself 

 at Orotava, in Teneriffe, on the 4th of July 1871. It is, as might be expected in an insular bird, dark slaty 

 grey, like English specimens, rather deeper in colour than the ordinary run of continental examples ; the 

 under surface is bright rufous, showing it to be an old bird ; bars on primaries five, on tail five. Total length 

 125 inches, culmen 065, wing 7 '6, tail 63, tarsus 2'1, middle toe, without claw, l - 3. 



Greece. We have one specimen now before us, which has been lent to us by Mr. T. E. Buckley, who shot 

 it in Macedonia on the 15th of February, 1867. It is very much like a small Goshawk, and answers exactly 

 to Mr. Gurney's description of the female in its first spring plumage. Mr. Buckley likewise notes the iris as 

 " yellow," another point mentioned by Mr. Gurney. Bars on primaries seven, on tail five, on outer rectrix six. 

 Total length 153 inches, culmen 08, wing 9 - 2, tail 7 - 5, tarsus 2 - 45, middle toe, without claw, 1*6. 



Turkey and Asia Minor. We have examined a beautiful series of specimens sent from these countries by 

 Mr. T. Robson, who has likewise addressed to us the following note : — " The eye varies in this species from a 

 light straw-yellow to a dark rust-colour : some specimens have rust-coloured breasts ; but these are very rare ; 

 they are also of a darker blue on the back and wings than the ordinary specimens, and may be very old birds." 

 In another letter he writes : — " They have an orange-yellow eye, which seems to darken with age to a dark 

 bronze-colour. I have an old male deeper rufous on the breast than the one I sent you, with dark bronze 

 iris ; also an old female with darker bands on the breast and bronze iris. Those sent you are first-rate 

 specimens ; and you will see their facial features and black heads and back are darker than in the English 

 bird ; the latter bird, with the straw-coloured eye, is much scarcer here than the others." Mr. Robson' s 

 remarks are borne out by the series he has sent over ; but we cannot allow that his adult birds are darker than 

 English specimens. One male sent by him is in Lord Walden's collection, and is pale rust-colour underneath, 

 and in fact agrees capitally in general appearance with the Norwegian bird first described by us. Bars on 

 primaries and on tail six. Total length 12'2 inches, culmen 065, wing 7 - 8, tail 6 - 2, tarsus 2 - 15, middle toe, 

 without claw, l - 3. Four other males exhibit different degrees of the rusty tint on the under surface, and bear 

 out Mr. Robson's assertion that the older the specimen the darker grey the back becomes ; in fact, the two 

 very old birds sent are nearly as dark as English specimens ; bars on the primaries seven, in the two more aged 

 ones six, on the tail six, in the older birds five. This confirms our previous statement that as the bird pro- 

 gresses in age the numbers of bands on the quills and tail diminishes. Total length ll - 5-13 - inches, 

 culmen 065, wing 7"7-7*8, tail 6 - 2-6'4, tarsus 2'15-2 - 2, middle toe, without claw, l - 3. Mr. Robson lately 

 transmitted to us a young male bird which differs from every other bird of the same age which we have seen, 

 so much so that we think it best to give a description of the specimen. 



Young Male shot at Havankeuy , Asia Minor, October 23rd, 1869. Head and hinder neck pale tawny, much 

 varied with white, the centres of the feathers light brown, producing a strongly marked mottled 

 appearance; rest of the upper surface of the body pale brown, slightly inclining to grey on the 

 lower back and scapulars, all the feathers conspicuously margined with pale tawny, and the white 

 bases to the feathers conspicuously showing on the scapulars and secondaries ; rump very pale brown 

 washed with tawny, with a great deal of white showing at the base, centre, and apex of each feather ; 

 quills very pale brown like the rest of the back, externally margined with pale tawny, in some feathers 

 almost whitish; under surface of wing whitish, with a shade of pale tawny colour' on the secondaries, 

 and crossed by narrow bands of dark brown, on the longer primaries five in number, with the faintest 

 remains of a sixth basal bar ; tail very pale brown, everywhere pervaded with a shade of pale tawny, 

 especially near the bases of the feathers ; all the rectrices margined with tawny, tipped with whitish, 

 and banded with dark brown, the bands being not so broad as the brown interspaces, four in number, 



