464 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



While the following, also amongst my collections, have not 



hitherto been met with so far to the north or to the east : — 



Leucocerca leucogaster (Cuv.) {L.pectoralis, Jerdon), Chanda. 



lora zeylanica, "] 



D • - ■ r ( Chanda. 



rnma socialis, J 



Spizalauda deva, west of Chanda. 



Perdicula erythrorhyncha, near Siroucha. 



I have still a {fivv species which I have been, as yet, unable to 

 determine — amongst them a Saocicola, apparently new to India, 

 and a Muscicapula (?) ; but I have had but little time for com- 

 paring them since I returned to Calcutta. 



I see that Mr. Wallace, in 'The Ibis ' for 1864 (p. 103), says 

 that he never found ants in the stomach of a Pitta. I shot 

 three specimens of P. bengalensis one day in the beginning of 

 May, and examined the contents of their stomachs. One had 

 fed partly upon the large black ant, so common in the Indian 

 jungles ; the other two had fed entirely upon " white ants." I 

 have not seen Termites mentioned before as forming part of 

 the food of these birds. I also found black ants along with 

 Culeoptera in the stomach of a solitary specimen, Oreocostes 

 cinclorhynchus, which I shot in the Chanda forest. 



W. T. Blanford. 



Sir, — I beg leave to trouble you with a few remarks relating 

 to three very interesting papers in the last number of ' The Ibis,' 

 those by Professor Baird, Captain Beavan, and Mr. E. Newton. 



Amongst the birds supposed to be identical in Europe and 

 North America, Prof. Baird includes Aquila chrysaetus, Pandion 

 haliceetus, Brachyotus vulgaris, Nyctea nivea, and Surnia ulula. 

 I have had the opportunity of examining American and Eu- 

 ropean examples of all these species, and feel convinced of their 

 being specifically identical on the North-American and Euro- 

 pean continents. 



The Norwich Museum possesses an extensive series of Ospreys 

 from various parts of the world ; and I have no hesitation in 

 expressing my belief that the species is identical, not only on 

 the coasts of North America and of Europe, but also on those 

 of Africa, Asia, and Australia. 



