1845.] or little known species of Birds. 179 



sent much in need of determination. Firstly, there is the Bacha of 

 Levaillant, or Falco bacha, Lath., which is described to be of the size 

 of the Common Buzzard of Europe ; female larger : this does not oc- 

 cur near the Cape, but was obtained far inland towards the tropic. 

 Next, Falco bido, Horsfield, from Java, subsequently considered as 

 identical with the African species by Dr. Horsfield : Mr. Vigors, 

 however, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 170, " expressed his doubts 

 whether the Falco bacha, Lath., and F, bido, Horsfield, were the same 

 species, although they were generally supposed to be identical. He 

 had not the opportunity of examining a sufficient number of African 

 specimens to determine the point." Three species, however, were dis- 

 tinguished by Mr. Vigors on that occasion, that of India being des- 

 cribed by the name Hcem. undulatus : but this Indian bird had pre- 

 viously been designated Falco cheela by Latham and Gmelin, and the 

 young was termed F. albidus by Cuvier ; it has also since been named 

 Circaetus nipalensis by Mr. Hodgson, and the young Buteo melanotis 

 by Mr. Jerdon*. The distinctions of Mr. Vigors's three species "con- 

 sist chiefly in size, the Hcem. holospilus (from the Philippines) being 

 one- third smaller than H. bacha ; while H. undulatus considerably 

 exceeds the latter. The first is spotted all over the body, the second 

 only on the abdomen ; while the third is marked by spots on the wing- 

 coverts, and by ocelli bearing an undulated appearance on the abdo- 

 men, the breast also being crossed by undulating fascice." These 

 last are chiefly seen in the females. 



In Mr. G. R* Gray's catalogue of the specimens of Raptorial birds 

 in the British Museum, specimens from India and Java are referred 

 to Spilornis bacha, and others from India to Sp. undulata. I 

 doubt, however, altogether the existence of more than one species in 

 India, of which I presume that the males have been referred by Mr. 

 Gray to H. bacha, and the females to H. undulatus ; this latter name 

 must indeed be superseded by cheela of Latham. But a specimen 

 from Malacca agrees with the description I have lately received of Dr. 

 Horsfield's Javanese tyrd, and differs from every one of a very exten- 

 sive series of the Indian bird now before me — lstly, in its inferior 



* Latham's " Noble Eagle" would seem to be merely a fulvescent specimen of 

 the young of this bird, such as are by no means uncommon, 



2 D 



