368 Letters, Extracts, Notices, l^-c. 



Jackson gives an interesting account of the habits of the 

 Oxpecker, or Rhinoceros -bird {Buphaga erythrorhyncha)* : — 

 " I was rather amused at a Rhinoceros-bird this afternoon, 

 which was on the back of the cow Rhinoceros that I shot. 

 There were three others with it, which settled again on its 

 back after it was dead. On my going up and getting within 

 ,50 yards of the body, they all flew off with their rather 

 Missel-thrush like call ; but as the Rhinoceros could take 

 no notice of them, this one, when I was within 15 yards, 

 suddenly darted down again on to its back, fluttered its 

 wings, screaming all the time, and then flew ofl" after the 

 others. If it were not for the Oxpeckers, Rhinoceroses would 

 be the easiest of all game to stalk; but as they are nearly always 

 accompanied by three or four of the birds, it really amounts 

 to stalking the birds more than the Rhinoceros. If they 

 would only sit still on the Rhinoceros, one might have a 

 better chance j but they have a provoking habit of occasionally 

 flying up into the tree the Rhinoceros may be lying or stand- 

 ing under at the time. On two or three occasions I have 

 been betrayed in this way." 



Birds of Diego Garcia. — In a recently issued number of 

 ' Deutsche geographische Blatter,' Dr. Finsch publishes an 

 interesting account of a short visit to Diego Garcia, when on 

 his way from Suez to Australia in the Orient s.s. ' Chim- 

 borazo,' in July 1884. A lively description is given of the 

 great breeding-place oi Sterna fuliginosa on the "East Island," 

 which at that date was in full swing. The eggs were so 

 crowded together on the sand that it was difficult to pick 

 one's way amongst them. A few Noddies (Anous stolidus) 

 breed on the same spot, also on the ground. The Sooty 

 Terns are said to arrive in June to breed, and to leave the 

 island before November. 



* Cf. Fischer, J. f. 0. 1885, p. 132. 



