Letters, Announcements, S^c. 323 



the reception of B. rubineus, Jerd., and coequal with Brachypus, 

 Sw., of 1831, founded upon the T. dispar, Horsf. Swainson's 

 genus, having been previously employed, must fall ; and although 

 Cabanis's term Sphagias, coined six years later, may be more 

 appropriate, the stern law of priority obliges us to discard it, as 

 well as, for the same reason, that of Meropixus, Bp., published 

 in 1854, and formed for the reception of our Ceylon bird, 

 M. melanictera. 



The following species appear to me to come within the limits 

 of Rubigula : — 



1. Brachypus rubineus, Jerd. 111. Ind. Orn. 1846, pi. 37. 



2. Turdus dispar, Horsf. Linn. Tr. xiii. p. 150. 



3. Vanga flavivmtris, Tick. J. A. S. B. ii. 583, 1833. 



4. Muscicnpa melanictera, Gm. 



Lanius melanocephalus, Gm. {Turdus atriceps, Temm. PI. Col. 

 147, type of Brachypodius, Blyth, 1845), is very closely allied, 

 but differs in having the tail rounded instead of subquadrate ; and 

 near it must probably be placed Ixus chalcocephalus, Temm., 

 PI. Col. 453. fig. 1, while Ixus squamatus, Temm., fig. 2, may 

 perhaps form a fifth additional species of Rubigula. 



XXVII. — Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



We have received the following letters, addressed "To the 



Editor of ' The Ibis : ' "— 



April 23, 1866. 



Sir, — The fact to which Mr. T. R. Archer Briggs draws at- 

 tention in the last Number of ' The Ibis ' was already noticed by 

 me (Ibis, 1864, p. 133). I hope this circumstance will impress 

 on the minds of all readers of that Journal the importance of 

 possessing a complete series of it. 



I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 



J. W. P. Orde. 



Willesden, Middlesex, June 8, 1866. 

 SiR,_As Mr. A. G. More mentions (Ibis, 1865, p. 123) 

 that he has no record of the Grey Wagtail {Motacilla sulphurea) 

 nesting in North Wales, and as Yarrell (B. B. i. p. 434), quo- 

 ting Mr. Eyton, says that it is a winter visitor there, I beg leave 

 to state that this year, from May 28 to June 4, I found it by 

 no means rare, and evidently breeding, on the streams in the 



