Letters, Announcements, S^c. 465 



The following species are well figured : — 



Erithacus gutturalis. Petronia bracliydactyla, 



Cinnyris osea. Amydrus tristrami. 



Serinus canouicus. Caprimulgus tamaricis. 



Passer moabiticus. Plotus levaillantii. 



XLVIII. — Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



We have received the following letters addressed to the 

 Editors of 'The Ibis :' — 



Northrepps Hall, Norwich, 

 June 30th, 1884. 



Sirs, — I beg to subjoin an extract from a letter addressed 

 to me, under date of 12th May last, by Mr. K. H. Bennett^ 

 of Ivanhoe_, New South Wales. The information it contains 

 relative to the habits of two of the scarcest A ustralian Birds 

 of Prey will, I think, be of interest to the readers of ' The 

 Ibis.'' Mr. Bennett writes : — 



" I have two skins of Aquila [Nisaetus] morphnoides , one 

 in the down, the other almost able to fly, obtained from 

 separate nests last November; this bird seldom lays more 

 than one egg ; I have occasionally found two, but such cases 

 are rare. 



" In January last I found a nest of Gypoictinia melano- 

 sternon, in which was one young one; and amongst the 

 remains of various animals scattered beneath the nest I 

 counted 21 rabbit-skulls, 4 bustards, 3 iguanas, and 37 

 jew-lizards, besides the remains (skulls &c.) of a number 

 of other small animals, chiefly birds.'^ 



Yours &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



Northrepps Hall, Norwich, 

 July 5th, 1884. 



Sirs,— In ' The Ibis ' for 1868, p. 253, I suggested the 

 specific name of australis for the Ostrich of South Africa,, 



