Letters, Announcements, S^c. 425 



" ' Descripcion de una nucva especie de pato del Peru/ 

 Anales, xxi, 1862, p. 439. [Querquedula angustirostris, Ph, 

 ct L.) 



" ' Descripcion de una nueva golondrina de mar/ Anales, 

 xxi. Nov. 1862, p. 440. {Sterna atrofascinta.) 



" ' Contribuciones a la Ornitologia de Chile/ Anales, xxiv. 

 April 1864, p. 336. {Dendrceca atricapilla, Arundinicola citreola, 

 Chlorospiza plumbea, Sycalis aureiventris, Accipiter chilensis.)'' 



We think that at no time have the ornithologists of this 

 country been so active as they appear to be at present. The 

 'Exotic Ornithology^ of our friends Messrs. Sclater and Salvin 

 (the first part of which will probably have made its appearance 

 before these pages meet the eyes of our readers) will be a worthy 

 successor of the ' Planches Euluminees/ the ' Planches Coloriees/ 

 and the ' Iconographie Ornifchologique.' Indeed we have every 

 reason to expect that the letterpress will be far superior to that 

 of those celebrated works, as the intention of the authors is to 

 make it a series of monogTaphic essays. 



Mr. E. L. Layard, who, as some of our readers are aware, has 

 long been collecting materials for a work on the birds of South 

 Africa, has been in England for the last six months to complete 

 his preparations. Mr. Layard returns to the Cape of Good Hope 

 in the coui-se of the autumn, and, we understand, will imme- 

 diately take steps for the publication of this desirable volume, 

 which is nearly ready for the press, and will be printed at Cape 

 Town. Everybody knows that the study of the bii'ds of South 

 Africa is beset with very great difficulty. There is not at present 

 even a bare catalogue of their names, while the descriptions of the 

 various species inhabiting the Cape Colony are scattered through- 

 out many different publications, few of which are within the 

 reach of most private persons. We are sure our readers will 

 join with us in our best wishes for our friend's safe return to his 

 southern home, and for the success of his intended work. 



' The Birds of Middlesex ' is the title of a volume by Mr. 

 J. E. Harting, which is to appear forthwith ; while, we believe, 

 the first volume of Mr. H. Stevenson's 'Birds of Norfolk' 

 may be expected about the close of the year. Mr. A. W. 



