not observed in the British Isles’ 
91 
the Hebrides. Schlegel, as we have shown, has effectually dis¬ 
posed of the reported German and Swiss specimens; and no one 
has been venturous enough to declare that the continent of Asia 
(supposing the birds to reach the old world by the Pacific route) 
owns its presence. Let our readers take our word for it, the 
Bald Eagle is not a European bird; and if it ever occurs on this 
side the Atlantic, it will be merely as an escaped captive or a 
chance wanderer on a filibustering expedition; and we exceed¬ 
ingly regret that Mr. Bree, who has herein acted against the 
advice of his “ discreet adviser,” has thought fit to assist in 
prolonging a very grave mistake. A little more attention 
would have revealed to him that the authorities, of whom he 
quotes a strong list to support his view of the case, have been 
merely copying from each other, instead of citing fresh testi¬ 
mony; and one of the best of them, the late Prince C. L. Bo¬ 
naparte, in his last publication on the Birds of Europe, has 
reversed his former opinion, and enumerated H. leucocephalus in 
the ‘ Liste d’oiseaux que Von fait passer pour Europeens / re¬ 
marking of it, “ confondu avec Hal. albicilla” 
Mr. Bree has, in our opinion, exercised a wise discretion in 
refusing a place in his work to the South-African Cuncuma 
vocifer of Mr. G. R. Gray; for we quite agree with him in thinking 
the evidence of this bird^s occurrence in Greece too slight, 
resting, as it does, merely on the tickets of two specimens in the 
Museum at Mayence, and uncorroborated by any testimony on 
the part of Count Henry von der Muehle. 
Our author makes an astonishing assertion, and one entirely 
contrary to fact, in stating that “ the Short-tail Eagle forms the 
sole representative of the genus Circaetus of Yieillot,” since 
Mr. Gray (Gen. B. p. 16, and App. p. 1) makes ten, Dr. Kaup 
(Contr. Orn. 1850, pp. 71, 72) sixteen, and the late Mr. Strick¬ 
land* (Orn. Syn. i. pp. 45-48) eight species of that group. We 
* Of these eight species of Circaeti, it is now known that C.ferox is 
Buteo leucurus, Naum. ( B . rujinus of Mr. Bree’s book); C. cinereus is the 
young of C. pectoralis; Circaetus solitarius of S. America is no Circaetus, 
but nearly allied to the genus Harpyhalice'etus (of which C. coronatus is 
the type), and the only member of M. Jules Verreaux’s division Urubitor - 
nis (P. Z. S. 1856, p. 145); and C. cinerascens of Muller is a Buteonine 
bird (confer Pr. Bonaparte in Rev. Zool. Feb. 1855). This leaves only 
