220 Letters, Announcements, &'c. 



dashed through the air, and the wonderful accuracy with which 

 they seized the luckless insects^ without permitting their owntiight 

 to be arrested in the least degree. Backwards, forwards, here, 

 thei-e, everywhere, they darted in all directions, and almost every 

 instant we heard the snapping of their bills as they closed them 

 on their ill-starred prey." 



The second note is from our correspondent Mr. E. L. Layard 

 of Cape Town, and is dated " South African Museum, December 

 19th, 1865." It has reference to an inquiry of our own re- 

 specting the swimming of Skuas (Ibis, 1865, p. 526), a subject 

 on which we have already printed a letter from Mr. Whitely [vide 

 supra, p. 127). Mr. Layard says, " Stercorai^ius parasiticus con- 

 stantly sits on the water and swims about hunting for food, and 

 I have shot it more than once in the act of doing so. My son 

 also has recalled to my mind that the first time he shot one was 

 out of a flock sitting and swimming in Table Bay." 



To Mr. Blyth we are indebted for some extracts from his 

 Indian correspondence, which we doubt not will be welcome to 

 our readers. The first is from Captain Blair, and refers to 

 some birds of Boss Island, one of the Andaman cluster. It is 

 dated Port Blair, June 1865 : — 



" Copsychus saulai'is is common about houses and gardens, and 

 is much more familiar than in Bengal. It sings very sweetly. 



" Temenuchus erythroprjgius, common, apparently nesting now. 

 1 captured a pair stealing plantains hung up in a store-room 

 window. They were caged, but died at sea. 



'' Acridotheres tristis is common, and was, I believe, introduced 

 by Col. Tytler, from Calcutta. The race, however, appears to 

 be smaller and darker in colour than that of Bengal, approximating 

 in this respect to that of Burmah. 



" A pair of Corvus splendens, also introduced by Col. Tytler, 

 are all that are left of those he brought, and, being probably of 

 the same sex, have not bred. 



" The Common Crow is very abundant — an undoubted Carrion- 

 Crow, but, I think, erroneously referred to Corvus culminatus. 

 It appears larger (I have not carefully examined specimens), and 

 the caw is much more like that of an English Rook*. 

 * True C. ndminatus, E. B. 



