Letters, Announcements, ^c. 467 



p. 336, line 13, wlncli has unfortunately reappeared in Mr. 

 Sharpens new edition of Layard's ' Birds of South Africa/ 

 p. 820 ; and as this might mislead any one referring to the 

 question, I take this opportunity of correcting our mistake. 



Instead of " We consider stages 6 and 7 to be of about 

 the same period, &c.,^^ the paragraph should read " We con- 

 sider stages 5 and 6, kc." It is a very small correction, but 

 an important one. 



Yours &c., 



Savile G. Reid. 



Riddagshaiisen, Brunswick, 

 July 31, 1884. 



Sirs, — I have just received from Dr. Platen, the well- 

 known explorer of the Moluccas, whose ornithological collec- 

 tions have for many years come to me, a letter from Rurakan, 

 a village in the Minahassa district of Celebes, in which he 

 informs me that he has just forwarded a collection of 666 

 bird-skins, referable to about 110 species, which he has col- 

 lected in the island of Waigiou, together Avith a considerable 

 number of eggs belonging thereto. A collection from Hal- 

 mahera and the little island of Gebe will shortly follow. 



As Mr. Wallace only obtained examples of 73 species in 

 Waigiou, it is probable that Dr. Platen^s collection may con- 

 tain many new species. Dr. Platen does not give further 

 information, except that the series of Diphyllodes wilsoni and 

 Psittacula diophthalmica are of great interest. 



Yours &c,, 



A. Nehrkorn. 



Nuneham Park, Abingdon, 

 July 31, 1884. 



Sirs, — Having been confined to the house by illness, I 

 have had leisure to watch the operations of the friends of my 

 youth, the birds. The chief drawing-room looks towards 

 the south ; it is situate on the first floor, and in front of it is 

 a broad balcony, with a flight of steps leading down to a 

 terrace. A corridor, connecting one of the wings with the 



