421 
Letters , Announcements, fyc. 
in the centre of a green tuft of grass, the blades of which are 
carefully bent over the top, and the openings by which the bird 
enters and leaves the nest closed up on her being frightened 
from it. A few tracks in the surrounding grass are the sole 
traces of the existence of the nest. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
W. Vincent Legge. 
London, July 1866. 
Sir, —I wish to make a few remarks which have occurred to 
me on reading Mr. Blythes very interesting commentary in the 
last Number of ‘ The Ibis/ on that portion of Dr. Jerdon's work 
which relates to the birds of prey. 
In the first place allow me to correct the error, which I pre¬ 
sume, from the footnote to p. 242, that I have accidentally 
committed, of calling the Spilornis obtained by Mr. Swinhoe in 
Formosa S. orientalis , instead of S. hoya, by which name that 
gentleman then designated it, and under which he has since 
described it (p. 304). 
With reference to Mr. Blyth's suggestion in the note to 
p. 236, that Falco subniger may possibly be the immature bird 
of F. hypoleucus, it is worthy of remark that the former occurs, 
as I have been informed by M. Jules Verreaux, in New Zealand, 
where, so far as I am aware, the latter has not hitherto been 
noticed. Specimens of both species are, however, at present so 
rare, that a sufficient series scarcely exists to settle this question 
satisfactorily. But my own impression is that these two Falcons 
are specifically distinct. Nor can I agree with Mr. Blyth in 
thinking that either of them belongs to “ the Sakir and Lanner 
group/' and I further demur to F. sacer being regarded as 
belonging to the “ Lanner group,” as it appears to me to be 
referable to a small distinct section, of which the other members 
are F. jugger and F. polyagrus. 
In confirmation of Pennant's notice of Eagles being trained 
by the Tartars to attack Wolves (quoted in the second note to 
p. 240), allow me to call attention to the following testimony of 
a traveller in Southern Russia, who, though not a naturalist, was 
an observer of undoubted veracity:— 
]/ 
/'riv 
hi 
2 F 
N. S.-VOL. II. 
