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Show 780 ON THE "RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF N.W. INDIA." [Dec. 5, I trust Mr. Gurney will pardon my protesting against the belief that my Falcon was a " ticket-of-leave " bird. 48. POLIORNIS TEESA, Frankl. In the coloured eggs of the White-eyed Buzzard referred to in my last communication on this subject*, we have a very good illustration of the importance of oology as an element in the classification of birds, showing that Poliornis forms, as it were, the connecting link between the genera Buteo and Circusf. During the past spring I was so fortunate as to obtain two pairs of even better-coloured eggs than those above alluded to. These I will endeavour to describe as follows :-(i.) Nest of two eggs, Futtehgurh, 5th April, 1875. These are somewhat undersized, in shape of a broad oval, and freely marked with reddish-brown specks at the obtuse end. In one specimen the markings extend more or less all over the surface of the egg. (ii.) Nest of two eggs, Futtehgurh, 27th April 1876. A full-sized pair; one is a broad oval, the other somewhat pyriform. The former has a few russet-brown blotches at one end only, one of the marks being the size of a large pea. The colouring-matter in the companion egg is confined to the compressed end, covering about a fifth of the surface, and consists of delicate russet-brown veined or map-like markings, which are so characteristic of the Bunting group. Admitting m y weakness for oological discoveries, I must not omit to mention that on April 12th I took a clutch of A*"-? eggs of Micro-nisus badius, which is in excess of the number hitherto recorded. Another sitting of four, taken three days later, are freely marked with minute specks of a reddish-brown colour. I venture to say Mr. H u m e is in enor in assigning only three eggs to this H a w k as a general rule J; for, according to m y experience, four is the normal number if the bird is allowed time to lay the full complement. I have also recently come across two very prolific pairs of Athene brama, capturing both the § birds in their nest-holes : the one had laid six eggs; while the other was sitting on the usual number, four, but laid a fifth in m y hand. Though not coming strictly within m y limits, I may mention the capture at Allahabad, on Oct. 10th of the past year, of a 5 Spizaetus nipalensis, regarding which Mr. Cockburn, the Curator of the Museum at that place, has favoured m e with the following particulars:- Length 27*5; expanse 58*5 ; wing 17*5 ; tail from vent 12; tarsus 35. Crest rudimentary. This is the first specimen of this bird that has, to m y knowledge, been procured in the Allahabad district §. I knocked it over with a charge of No. 10 shot while in the act of devouring a Crow-Pheasant." * Cf. P. Z.S. for 1875, p. 25. t Cf. ' Nests and Eggs,' pt. i. p. 51, where the only known eggs of P. liviventer are described as having a " very few tiny pale brown and purplish brown specks " on them. \ Cf. ' Nests and Eggs,' pt. i. p. 25. § Mr. Hume, in his article on Spizaetus cirrhatus, ' Rough Notes,' p. 206, records <S'. nipalensis from Etawah ; but I have not yet met with this species myself in the Plains. |