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Show 1874.] Mil. R. B. SHARPE ON CERTAIN ACCIPITRES. 583 the darker and more slaty blue of the head and tail in C. rupicola compared with the paler and more greyish blue of those parts in C. tinnunculus. Below, the differences are very striking, the breast in C. rupicola being of a deep chestnut-fawn-colour with black spots, while in C. tinnunculus the under surface is fulvous fawn-colour with a slight vinous tinge. But the best character which separates the two species exists in the sides of the face of C. rupicola being entirely blue like the crown, with no fulvescent ear-coverts. The females of both species differ from the males in having rufous instead of blue heads ; and whereas the hen of C. rupicola always has a blue tail banded with black, the ordinary plumage of the female C. tinnunculus is a rufous tail banded with black, excepting when a bluish shade is apparent on the tail of the dark form which inhabits the localities mentioned by me above. The specimen obtained by Mr. Wharton endangers the validity of the blue tail as a good character ; but, for all this, the bird is a regular Common Kestrel with the pale under surface, and with greyish cheeks and ear-coverts, the sides of the neck being also light fulvous with blackish streaks; whereas in the female C. rupicola these parts are all deep rufous, with a very slight greyish shade on the upper ear-coverts. While on the subject of Kestrels, I would draw attention to the fact that the Moluccan species includes two forms, as has been already pointed out by Professor Schlegel in his ' Valkvogels van Nederlandsch Indie' (p. 48). He says there, " the Kestrel of the Moluccas has been observed by our travellers in Java, Borneo, Celebes, in the Halmahera group, Ceram, Amboina, Timor, and Flores. With the exception of Java, we possess specimens to the number of twenty-five collected in the localities above cited. On comparing them inter se, one sees that in all those killed in the Halmahera group the brownish-red tinge is darker and extends over all the sides of the head, whilst the throat, as well as the forehead, borders more plainly on rufous. These individuals have been killed in different parts of Halmahera and in the islands of Morotai, Ter-nate, Mareh, Tidore, and Batchian. W e only possess three examples from the Ceram group ; of which two, killed in Ceram and Amboina, are indistinguishable from those of the Halmahera group, whilst the third one, by means of its clear tints, approaches more those from the other parts of the archipelago. Those from Borneo and Celebes have the colours less pronounced, and that of the region of the ear passes more or less perceptibly to whitish. It is the same in our example from Timor and in that from Flores; the latter is remarkable for the restricted number and minuteness of the dark spots on the back and wings." An excellent plate with three figures (pi. 1. figs. 3-5) illustrates Prof. Schlegel's remarks; and when I was in Leiden last year I saw the original specimens. Fig. 3 represents a Batchian specimen, fig. 4 the Flores bird referred to above, and fig. 5 the light-cheeked Ceram bird. When examining the Leiden series of C. moluccensis I found that there was certainly a recognizable difference, as Professor Schlegel has pointed out, in birds from various localities ; but I could not sepa- |