260 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 



liaris and various species of Sylvia, Saxicola,Lanius, Motacilla, 

 Pastor, Merops, and Coracias. Various Ducks then leave 

 the country, but the Brahminy Duck or Ruddy Sheldrake, 

 Casarca rutila, remains throughout the year and breeds 

 there. The greater number of the species met with belong 

 to the genera Saxicola (8), Lanius (6), Sylvia (5), Motacilla 

 (5), and Emberiza (4)." 



Dr. Radde's Trans-Caspian Expedition. — Dr. Radde writes 

 to us from Tiflis that he brought back with him from his 

 Trans-Caspian Expedition 12 specimens of Ovis arkal, 850 

 l)ird-skins, and a large series of reptiles, besides other spoils. 

 The collections are now being worked out by various experts, 

 and the results will, it is estimated, require a work of four 

 volumes to contain them. He has obtained examples of 

 most of Mr. Blanford's Persian species. 



Obituary. Mr. Robert Gray, F.R.S.E. — It is with much 

 regret that we record the death of Mr. Robert Gray, of 

 Edinburgh, on the 18th of February. To southern ornitho- 

 logists he is best known by his most important work, ' The 

 Birds of the West of Scotland,^ published in 1871, and which 

 continues to be the standard authority for that portion of 

 the country ; but he also wrote ' The Birds of Ayrshire and 

 Wigtownshire,'' and contributed many papers to the ' Pro- 

 ceedings ' of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (of which he 

 was a Vice-president), the Royal Physical Society (of which 

 he was Secretary), the Glasgow Natural History Society, 

 and other periodicals. The genial presence of this veteran 

 naturalist will be much missed at the scientific and other 

 gatherings which he frequented in Edinburgh and Glasgow. 



