474 Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 



correct, but we leave the readers of ^ The Ibis ' to judge for 

 themselves. 



E. A. Butler. 



H. W. Feilden. 



S. G. Reid. 

 otb September, 1887. 



Emin Pacha on the Birds of Lake Albert, Eastern Equato- 

 rial Africa. — "^ All along the river and in the lake I was struck 

 with the relatively small number of species of water-birds. 

 Further norths in the Bahr-el-Abiad, between 12° and 15° 

 north lat.j water-birds and marsh-birds occur in innu- 

 merable flocksj while to the south, in the localities men- 

 tioned, one cannot find a single duck or a single goose. 

 And although we can explain this marked difference, for the 

 winter-season (November to March) at least, by the fact that 

 large numbers of European emigrants on their way to the 

 south do not proceed beyond the marshy track between 

 Sobat and Ghaba Shambe, still this will not account for the 

 paucity of species and of numbers of species which do occur 

 in localities that are so eminently suited for them further 

 south. Ardea alba and A. comata went on fishing around 

 the steamer, quite regardless of the bustle; and a little 

 further away I noticed specimens of Anastomus lamelligerus, 

 Plotus levaillanti, and Phalacrocorax africanus. A few 

 jabirus [Mycteria senegalensis) were searching an inundated, 

 low-lying piece of land; and, on the margin of the lake, a 

 few Egyj)tian Geese {Chenalopex agyptiacus) showed them- 

 selves. With the Pelicans mentioned above as having been 

 observed in the river I close the list. Not a single plover 

 was seen, nor yet a strand-snipe or a duck.^' — (Extract from 

 ' The Scottish Geographical Magazine,'' June 1887, p. 276.) 



Nesting of the Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes) . — In 

 the Mitth. d. Orn. Ver. in Wien (xi. Jahrg. nr. 5 & 6), Herr 

 Edm. Pfanni has given an interesting account of his adven- 



