Notes on Mr. R. B. Sharpe’s Catalogue of Accipitres. 209 
tion strongly confirmed their entire distinctness. With regard 
to the mature males, one fact requires notice. The mature B. 
flavus of Western Europe seldom, perhaps never, has such pale 
grey and white cheeks as the Indian examples have. The west¬ 
ern birds are nearer to some forms of B. viridis; but the cheeks 
are not so dark as in that bird, and are streaked with white. 
The supereilium, too, of B. flavus , in the fresh bird, is broader 
and more distinct than in any form of B. viridis , which is 
oftener without than with a supereilium. In India the two 
species are much more distinct, and separation is always easy. 
In skinning these birds the supereilium very often suffers, 
as well as the generally good condition of the head ; this ren¬ 
ders identification difficult when the head is the only guide. 
I have been much struck by the careful details given by Mr. 
Blanford in his work on the Zoology of Persia. He gives :— 
1. locality, 2. date, 3. elevation at which procured (this is im¬ 
portant in a mountainous country), 4. sex, 5. total length, 
6. colour of bill, legs, and feet. All this information is valu¬ 
able ; and if the collector be in ever so great a hurry, the one 
point of date, even to the day of the month if possible, should 
never be omitted. By this we can often tell whether the ex¬ 
ample is mature, and where the species breeds, to a certainty. 
Mr. Blanford knew all this; and hence the completeness of his 
details. I make these remarks in order to remind collectors 
of what will greatly add to the value of their specimens. 
These points are well known to most readers of f The Ibis / but 
some, in collecting, forget them. To register all these par¬ 
ticulars may not be convenient, for want of time; but the 
month of the year should at all events not be forgotten. 
XIX.— Notes on a ‘ Catalogue of the Accipitres in the 
British Museum ’ by R. Bowdler Sharpe (1874). By J. H. 
Gurney. 
[Continued from ser. 3, vol. vi. p. 493.] 
Under the subfamily “ Aquilinse 93 Mr. Sharpe includes nu¬ 
merous groups, several of which differ so widely from each 
