426 
Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 
Dr. Horsfield, in the article on “ Falco limnaetus” in his 
‘ Zoological Researches in Java/ writes thus,—“Both the testi¬ 
mony of the natives and the remarks I personally made on the 
manners of our bird have fully convinced me that F. niveus 
is a species distinct from F. limnaetus ” The same view was 
taken by Dr. Bernstein, who also resided for some years in 
Java, and the substance of whose remarks on this subject, 
extracted from his article in vol. viii. of the c Journal fur 
Ornithologie' (pp. 419-425), I here subjoin:—“It is cer¬ 
tainly not to be denied that there is not any difference be¬ 
tween the measurements of F. niveus and F. limnaetus , and 
that very dusky-coloured individuals of F. niveus occur which 
seem to form the transition from that species to F. limnaetus. 
Nevertheless, having shot numerous individuals and compared 
them anatomically, having observed others at the nest, taken 
the young from it, reared and kept them for years, I cannot 
do otherwise than express myself against the identity of the 
two species. I have found the nest of F. limnaetus nine times, 
and observed the old ones at it; both always belonged to the 
same species: the young are at first covered with fine white 
down, between which, here and there, the brown feathers of 
the perfect plumage begin to appear; and three which I brought 
up corresponded perfectly with the old ones. The nest of F. 
niveus I found four times; and two of these contained a single 
half-fledged young bird, both of which I took and reared: 
in their first plumage the throat was pure white, but with 
three more or less distinct dusky streaks (which are also per¬ 
ceptible on the throat of F. limnaetus) . The breast and abdo¬ 
men are also white, but with large blackish brown longitudinal 
spots, whilst the thighs have rather lighter narrow transverse 
streaks; the feathers of the head and nape are dirty white, 
assuming a brownish hue towards the tip, and with blackish 
brown shaft-marks; the feathers of the back and scapulars 
are grey-brown, darker towards the tip, and lighter, and ulti¬ 
mately white, towards the base; the quill-feathers are brown, 
with lighter transverse bars, and the rectrices similar but 
paler: with increasing age the dusky shaft-marks on the 
head, neck, and breast seem gradually to disappear till these 
