Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, &fc. 385 



June 9, in Sylvia arundinacea, and two eggs, fresh. 



June 30, in Sylvia phragmitis, and two eggs, incubated. 



All these were found in the same locality, and the last five 

 within a quarter of a mile, or rather less, of each other ; the time 

 extends nearly over May and June. A curious circumstance 

 occasioned the loss of the specimen found May 22. It was near 

 an island, in a situation where no person or quadruped could 

 possibly reach it, not even a rat. The keeper who found it 

 lifted out the Cuckoo's egg, replaced it with care, and, ac- 

 cording to usual custom, came to fetch me. He was absent 

 about half an hour; when he returned, we found that the 

 S. phragmitis, owner of the nest, had turned out the intruding 

 Cuckoo's egg, and in so doing had broken it, as its own eggs 

 were splashed with the yelk. This circumstance, I have strong 

 reason to believe, became known to the Cuckoo, who, six days 

 after, laid another egg not far off. The last egg (June 30) showed 

 much less colour than the previous one, indicating a later de- 

 posit of the bird. 



My friend Mr. Alfred Newton has, at the Zoological Society's 

 meeting, April 8, 1862, investigated the subject of the hen 

 Fringilla incerta, taken near Brighton, March 13 last. I will, 

 therefore, only add, that a previous cock of great beauty, belong- 

 ing to Mr. Swaysland, Brighton, was recorded by me in ' The 

 Ibis,' April 1860, p. 201 ; and that though these are the only 

 two I have myself seen, yet several others are said to have been 

 obtained by Mr. Swaysland near Brighton, but were not much 

 noticed at the time, and no record kept of them. 



I am. Sir, yours, &c., 



Geo. Dawson Rowley. 



5, Peel Terrace, Brighton, August 27, 1862. 



Mr. Blyth, in a letter dated Calcutta, May 8 last, sends us 

 the following notes relating to No. 13 of ' The Ibis :' — 



P. 19. Pratincola leucura, nobis, was lately obtained abundantly 

 by Dr.Jerdon in the vicinity of Caragola, on the main stream of the 

 Ganges ; also Ruti^illa burnesii, nobis, Locustella navia, and a 



