86 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



British ornithologists. A finely-preserved Buteo galapagensis, 

 collected by Dr. George Bauer, is worth a few minutes' comparison 

 with the representative array of eleven specimens of Buteo sivain- 

 soni; while a very pale B. krideri, shot and presented by Mr. 

 Arthur Stark, should by no means be passed over. Haliaetus 

 vociferoides, Des Murs, is another addition since my father's death, 

 and so likewise is Leucopternis semiplumbea, obtained by Mr. 

 George Cherrie, of Chicago, of which a fairly good picture is given 

 at page 47 of ' The Guide.' 



Mr. Southwell very properly bestows a word of praise to the 

 taxidermic skill displayed in the case of Buteo solitarius f the 

 small Buzzard of the Sandwich Islands, the subject of my father's 

 last memoir (' Aves Hawaiienses,' 1893, part v.). Equally 

 creditable to the late Mr. Roberts, who for many years mounted 

 specimens for the Museum, is the group of Gypoictinia melano- 

 sternon, the acquisition of which, through Mr. K. H. Bennett, 

 was a source of gratification at the time. A full description of 

 the nestling in this group is given in ' The Ibis' (1886, p. 458), 

 and we also have the eggs. 



Our white variety of the Sea Eagle (Haliceetus albicilla), 

 singular for its rarity, though not unique, obtained many years 

 ago in Ireland, was painted from the life by H. L. Meyer in his 

 1 British Birds,' where he remarks : — " No painting can fitly 

 represent the delicate and beautiful colour of this bird. When 

 its feathers are ruffled, as may be frequently observed, at the 

 pleasure of the creature, a delicate azure blue tint is seen to 

 pervade the basal part of the feathers, which, appearing through 

 the whole transparent texture, imparts to its plumage the singular 

 tint it displays" ('Brit. Birds,' i. p. 14). As it has been stuffed 

 for more than fifty years, it is not surprising that " the delicate 

 azure blue " is no longer perceptible. 



As special rarities also may be noticed the Long-tailed 

 West African Goshawk, Urotriorchis macrurus, nearly as rare as 

 when first described by Dr. Hartlaub in 1855; Tinnunculus 

 alopex, the Fox-coloured Kestrel from the Red Sea, lately received 

 in exchange from the Museum at Florence ; Accipiter rufo- 

 tibialis, from Kina Balu, Borneo ; Microhierax melanoleucus, from 

 China, collected by Mr. C. B. Rickett ; Baza bismarcki, from New 

 Britain (c/. ' Ibis,' 1893, p. 339) ; and B. sumatrensis, from 

 Burma (T. A. Hauxwell). 





