250 Messrs. E. L. and E. L. C. Layard on 



313. Circus spilonotus, Kaup. (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 144.) 



A pair of these birds frequented the Susaki flats, Tokio, 

 both in summer and winter, one of -which was shot by Mr. C. 

 Bland, December 1877; length 24 inches, wing 17. 



Yezo, Tokio. 

 Yokohama, 28tli December, 1877. 



[We have received a box of some 50 skins of birds, sent in 

 order to assist in determining some of the uncertain species 

 in this list. We have placed them in the hands of JSIr. See- 

 bohm, who has kindly undertaken to prepare a report upon 

 them. — Edd.] 



XIX. — Notes on the Avifauna of New Caledonia. By Edgar 

 L. Layard, C.M.G., F.Z.S., &c., H.B.M. Consul, and E. 

 Leopold C. Layard, Vice-Consul at Noumea. With Re- 

 marks by the Rev. Canon Tristram, F.R.S., C.M.Z.S., &c. 



On the 23rd of last month we had the pleasure of receiving 

 our copy of 'The Ibis '' for July last (4th series, vol. i. no. 3), 

 putting us in possession of M. Marie^s list of New-Caledonian 

 birds, which the Editors have been kind enough to print for 

 our information, and for which our hearty thanks are due. 

 Surely we rudijnow hope that we are in possession of all the lite- 

 rature respecting the birds of these islands. We have spared 

 no pains or expense to acquire it; and as our list of birds difters 

 somewhat from M. Marie^s, we propose to make a few remarks 

 on the latter, especially as we can add somewhat to its num- 

 bers, both by the enumeration of some species of our own ac- 

 quiring, and by the description of several novelties which we 

 have been fortunate enough to discover in an old collection 

 belonging to the French colonial authorities, and destined for 

 the Colonial Museum, now in process of building. This col- 

 lection was made, as the labels show, by two French gentle- 

 men, M. Guillanton, Lieutenant d^infanterie de Marine, and 

 M. Deplanche, in the island of Lifu, the central island of the 

 Loyalty group. It lies about sixty miles from the nearest 



