201 
Letters, Announcements, ^c. 
I am in hopes that this notice will attract attention^ and 
that the critical examination of the specimen alluded to will 
place beyond doubt the occurrence of Rosses Gull in the No- 
vaya Zemlya Sea. How interesting it is thus to obtain_, after 
a lapse of fifty years_, corroborative evidence that Sir James 
Clark Ross was correct in determining this species as seen 
by him to the north of Spitsbergen^ during Parry^s memorable 
attempt to reach the North Pole ! 
Yours, &c., 
H. W. Feilden. 
Aldershot, 
2iid February, 1878. 
Sirs, —I am anxious to put on record some additions to 
the birds of Ceylon that have recently come to light, and 
also to make some remarks upon some others. 
Spizaetus nipalensis (?) 
Spizaetus nipalensis, Kelaart, Prodromus F. Zeylanicse, 
Cat. p. 114; Layard, Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 2, vol. xii. p. 98 ; 
Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 411. 
Having had occasion to examine a large series of Spizaetus 
nipalensis for the purpose of comparison with examples of the 
Mountain Hawk-Eagle of Ceylon, I find that certain cha¬ 
racteristics, differing from those presented by the Ceylonese 
bird, are constant in the Indian form. I propose to point 
them out here with a view to establish a ground for sepa¬ 
rating the island bird as a distinct subspecies, at any rate. 
Before noticing these peculiarities, 1 may remark that fully 
adult birds from Nepaul are nearly always exceedingly dark 
on the head, and have the whole of the centre of the chin and 
gorge occupied by a very broad black stripe, having between 
it and the equally black cheeks a space narrower than itself. 
The coloration of the chest likewise is very dark, from youth 
to the adult stage; and more examples have a plain brown 
feather than one with undulations of white at the lateral 
margins. The distinctive character of the under surface, as 
compared with that of the Ceylonese form, consists in the 
white bars on the breast, flanks, and belly being, in all cases, 
