Letters, Announcements, ^c. 
119 
I believe but one British specimen of this Buzzard has 
been previously recorded—that mentioned by Mr. Gould in 
his ^ Birds of Great Britain/ and referred to in ^ The Ibis ^ 
for 1876, p. 366. 
I may add, that during my visit to Newcastle I also saw 
Mr. Hancock^s curious Sparrow hawk, to which I referred 
in The Ibis ^ for 1875, p. 479, and that I agree with that 
gentleman in considering it to be an abnormal specimen of 
Accipiter nisus. 
Yours, &c., 
J. H. Gurney. 
Northrepps, November 24, 1877. 
Sirs, —I beg to forward for insertion in ^ The Ibis ^ an 
interesting notice with which I have been favoured by 
Major Fitzgerald, of Framingham Hall, Norfolk, on the 
subject of a fine specimen of Huhua nipalensis which lived 
several years in his possession, and which I had an oppor¬ 
tunity of inspecting after it was stufiPed. 
Mr. Roberts, an experienced birdstufier in Norwich, by 
whom this Owl has been mounted, informs me that it 
proved on dissection to be a female, and that the irides 
were a rich hazel with a very slight ochraceous tinge. 
Major Fitzgerald tells me that this species is not strictly 
nocturnal in its habits. 
Yours &c., 
J. H. Gurney. 
Huhua nipalensis. —This specimen was taken from the 
nest, in a tree, in the Darjeeling District, Himalaya, either 
in the year 1861 or 1862, and from that period until Sep¬ 
tember 1877 lived in my possession. 
As well as I can remember, the bird was a solitary nestling, 
and took several months to assume its first plumage fully. 
Its food in confinement consisted of rabbit-flesh, rats, hedge¬ 
hogs. 
The Huhua is not a common bird, but is met with in most 
parts of the Himalaya in the more temperate valleys. The 
