Letters, Extracts, Notices, &^c. 123 



the British Empire, which, though small in area, is of great 

 interest as regards its position. 



Mr. H. H. Johnston, now H.B.M. Vice-Consul in West 

 Africa, aided by a grant from tbe British Association, has 

 already effected a preliminary survey of the summits of 

 the Cameroons, and obtained amongst other spoils a small 

 series of birds. We trust that it may contain, along with 

 other rarities, additional specimens of Strobilophaga burtoni, 

 of which the only known example Was obtained by Sir Richard 

 Burton when he made his ascent of the Cameroons in 1861. 

 The presence of this arctic type in the Cameroons would 

 lead us to expect to find there accompanying forms of like 

 origin. 



Mr. Seebohm is busily engaged on the final revision of his 

 work on the " Geographical Distribution of the Charadriidse, 

 or Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes," which will be ready for 

 publication about May next. It will be illustrated by twenty 

 excellent plates of the rarer species, which have been executed 

 by Keulemans, besides about 200 woodcuts. The same facile 

 artist has, we believe, undertaken the preparation of the 

 plates for Sir Walter Buller's new edition of the ' Birds of 

 New Zealand.^ 



Messrs. J. A. Harvie-Brown and T. E. Buckley have in 

 preparation a ' Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherland, Caithness, 

 and West Cromarty,^ a work based upon the authors^ personal 

 acquaintance with the larger portion of the area treated of, 

 during a period of twenty years. It will be issued in small 

 quarto, with a map showing the faunal areas, and plates, at 

 a cost of 2\s. to subscribers, who are invited to send their 

 names in to Mr. Harvie-Brown, Dunipace House, Larbert, 

 N.B. Up to the present the names of intending subscribers 

 have been coming in very slowly, and unless 250 are secured, 

 it may not be considered desirable to proceed with the work. 

 The failure of so promising a contribution to our history of 

 local faunas would be very regretable, and we trust that those 

 Members of the B.O.U. Avho have not yet sent in their names 

 will no longer imperil the work by delay. 



Aided by a grant from the donation fund of the Royal 



