464 Recent Ornithological Publications. 
sphenurus. Mr. Bree seems to think it out of the question that 
they can be referable to Riippell’s bird, the dimensions given 
by Riippell being considerably less than those of the Syrian 
specimens. But knowing how great is the variation in the 
dimensions of skins according to the way in which they are 
prepared, we cannot allow that this single fact is sufficient to 
prove the distinctness of this bird. Having a second time 
examined the skins and referred to Ruppell’s plate, we are still 
inclined to believe that the Syrian skins are in all probability re¬ 
ferable to Accipiter sphenurus of Biippell. In every respect except 
size they agree well with Riippell’s figure; and Mr. Bree would, 
we think, have done better to defer describing his “new species” 
until he had had an opportunity of comparing them with 
authentic examples of Riippell’s bird. 
“ The claim of Falco gurneyi to a place in the European avi¬ 
fauna,” Mr. Bree informs us, “ rests at present on a single im¬ 
mature specimen received by Mr. Gurney from Athens.” 
Mr. Blythes Report on additions to the Zoological collection 
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, published in the first number 
of that Society’s Journal for the present year (p. 73 etseq.), con¬ 
tains some notes on the species of birds collected by Mr. W. T. 
Blanford, of the Indian Geological Survey in Burmah, amongst 
which are several new species or distinguishable local races— 
Mulleri-picus feldeni , Ficus blanfordi , Sturnopastor superciliaris, 
Turnix blanfordi, &c. Rhodophila melanoleuca, the new Saxi- 
coline form lately discovered by Dr. Jerdon on the Ganges (cf. 
Ibis, 1862, p. 386), was also met with by Mr. Blanford in 
Arakan. 
Mr. Blyth’s Report also contains descriptions of the novelties 
lately obtained by Lieut.-Col. Tytler in the Andaman Islands, 
which have been already noticed, anted, p. 119. The specific 
name of the new Dendrocitta is bayleyi (scr. bayleii ), and not 
bazlei, as printed in p. 119. 
Dr. Mouat’s volume on the Andamans* concludes with an 
* Adventures and Researches among the Andaman Islanders. By Fred. 
J. Mouat, M.D. London, 1863. Hurst and Blackett. 
