BIRDS OF EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ASIA. 



'local' varieties of one species ; only these birds 

 happen to be better knovvn, much as they re- 

 semble Ciich other. Aijain, we have t lie true Fal- 

 co peregrimis common inliidia, together with F. 

 peregrinator, which would otherwise be regard- 

 ed as its Indian couniei'part: BypotrlorcMs siiJj- 

 huteo found together with H. severus ; ULrun- 

 do sinensis (the ordinary Indian Sand Martin.) 

 tosi;etlier with H. riparia; Cticulus canorus (the 

 European Cuckoo,) as also several affined spe- 

 cies ; and so on. In some cases, a European 

 species may have two or more ' representatives 

 in India, or vice versa. Thus Nucifraga cary- 

 ■ocatactes of the pine forests of Europe and Si- 

 beria is replaced by N. hemispila in those of the 

 Himalaya generally, and by H- multiniaculata 

 about Kashmir ; Parws major by P. monticolus 

 and /*. ciiiereus, if cot also P. nuclmlis (in ad- 

 dition to cinereus) in S. India ; Pious major by | 

 P. himalayanus and P. darjellensis ; Accentor 

 alpimis by A. nipalensis and J. variegatus : 

 wfiile, on the other hand, Lanius lalitora in 

 India is represented both by L. excuhitor and 

 L. meridionalis in Europe ; Sitta cinnamoven- 

 tris by S. europoea and S. cassia, ^c. Some or- 

 nithologists regard the Passer doniestic^is, P. 

 italioe (vel cisalpinus), and P. salicarius (vel 

 hispaniolensis,) of Europe, as being local varie- 

 ties merely of the same : yet they hold true to 

 distinctive diflerences of coloring, wheresoever 

 found ; and examples of the last-named race 

 from Afghanistan and the extreme N. W. of 

 India differ in no anpreciable respect from Al- 

 gerian specimens with which they have been com- 

 pared moreover, this race is of far more grega- 

 rious habils even than Passer domesticns ; a 

 fact noticed of it alike in N. Africa and in 

 Kohat. For the Pauri or Peregrine Falcon of 

 India, Mr. Gould adopts Latham's name F. 

 calidtis, thereby implying a distinction from true 

 peregrimis. It may be doubted exceedingly if 

 any one difference could be detected. It is 

 true, that many highly approximate races (con- 

 sidered, therefore, as species) do maintain their 

 distinctness, even in the same region and vici- 

 nity ; as Falco peregrinus and F. pereyrinator, 

 Uypotriorcliis suhhuteo and H. severus, Circus 

 cyaneas and C. Swainsonii in India. Coracias 

 htngalensis of all India meets, in the Punjal), 

 &c., the European C. garrula ; but in Assam, 

 Sylhet, Tippera, and, more rarely, Lower Bengal, 

 it co-exists with the G. affinis, specimens of 

 which from the Burmese countries are ever 

 true to their proper coloration, as those of C. 

 berujalensis are from Upper and S. India ; but 

 there is seen every conceivable gradation or 

 transition from one type of colouring to the 

 other, in examples from the territories where 

 the two races meet : so also with the Treron 

 phanicoplerus of Upper India and the Tr. chlo- 

 rigaskr of S. India and Ceylon, which blend 



in Lower Bengal ; and Gallopliasis allocristatns 

 of the W. Himalaya and G. melanosis of Sikhim, 

 which produce an intermediate race in Nepal ; 

 and G. Guvieri of Assam and Sylhet, and G. 

 lineatiis of Burmah, which interbreed in Arakan, 

 SoC, so that every possible transition from one 

 to the other can be traced, as demonstrated by 

 a fine series of preserved specimens in the 

 museum of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. If 

 inhabiting widely separated regions, the (assum- 

 ed) distinctness of such races, would be at once 

 granted ; as with Phasianus colchicvs and the 

 Chinese Ph. torquatus, which readily intermix 

 and blen'i, wherever the latter has been intro- 

 duced in Europe. Such races as the Crossbills, 

 the Bauri and Shahin Falcons of India, the 

 British Phylloscopus trochilus and Ph. rufus, 

 and the different European Sparrows, maintain 

 themselves persistently distinct ; and this while 

 the common Sparrow of India would probably 

 blend with tl>e British Sparrow (though conside- 

 red distinct by some), if an opportunity should 

 occur of its doing so. 



The following birds are given in the Calcutta 

 Review (March 1857), as common to England 

 and Southern Asia. 



Chj'ps Fulvus. {Vultur fulvus ; ' Griffon Vul- 

 ture.') Inhabits the high mountains of Europe 

 and Asia, inclusive of the Himalaya and its 

 vicinity : common in Dalmatia, Greece, and the 

 islands of the Mediterranean ; less so on the 

 Alps, and exceerlingly rare and accidental in 

 tlie British islands wnd northern provinces of 

 France. Replaced in the Pyrenees, Sardinia, 

 and Barbary, by the nearly affined G. occiden- 

 talis : in E Alrica by G. lluppellii : and in S. 

 Africa by G. Kolbii ; also generally over India 

 and the Malay countries by G. Indicus, a much 

 smaller bird. All are remarkable for posses- 

 sing fourteen tail-feathers, whereas other birds 

 ot prey have twelve only ; even their congener, 

 G. bengalensis, which is the commonest Indian 

 vulture about and near towns, and is also met 

 with in E. Africa. As ^Ir. Yarrell does not 

 appear to discriminate the G. occidentalis, it is 

 just possible that the bird which he notices 

 appertains to that particular race, rather than to 

 the genuine G. fulvus of the Himalaya. 



The G. fulvus is the ' great white Vulture' 

 of the Himalaya ; and the ' great black Vulture* 

 of the Himalaya, Vultur monachus, may yet be 

 found to stray so far west as Britain ; since it 

 has several times been shot in Schleswig and 

 Holstein, also in Provence, Languedoc, Dauph- 

 ine, SiC. It is not rare in the Pyrenees, Sar- 

 dinia, Sicily, and mountainous regions of tie 

 S. E. of Europe. 



The great African V. auricularis has been ob- 

 served in Greece, and has once been killed in 

 France (in Province) ; this resembles V, ponti- 

 cerianus, the so-call«d \ king vulture' common 

 \ " 2 



