the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. 469 



plates of Gould*s 'Birds of Asia' are displayed on the walls. 

 There are some cases of Assam birds, from Shillong ; the 

 Straits Settlements send some cases of mounted birds, and a 

 number of skins arranged on the wall of one of the galleries, 

 as well as some edible birds' nests — the latter being also a 

 feature in the North Borneo exhibit. The Official Catalogue 

 is particularly unsatisfactory as regards the exhibitions in 

 the galleries, and it can only be surmised that two cases con- 

 taining Argus Pheasants and other fine birds were contri- 

 buted by Mr. Pryer; they have been mounted by Mr. E. 

 Gerrard, jr. From Hong-Kong nothing could reasonably 

 be expected. In the same gallery are specimens of the Ring- 

 necked Pheasant, descendants of birds introduced into the 

 Island of St. Helena in 1513, by some Portuguese exiled from 

 Goa, which have varied very slightly from the plumage of 

 their ancestors after the lapse of nearly four centuries. 

 There is also a specimen, with its e^^, of that remarkable 

 little Plover, yEgialitis sancta-helence, the '' Wire-bird " of 

 that island, to which it appears to be confined, its represen- 

 tative on the African continent being ^. varia. A paper 

 by Mr. J. E. Harting, with figures of these two species, 

 will be found in ' The Ibis ' for 1873, pp. 260-269. The 

 Mauritius section, in the same gallery, contains some 

 natural-history specimens from the Seychelles, sent by Mr. 

 H. Whatley Estridge, respecting which a note in the Official 

 Catalogue says, '' We notice also a small hawk, of which even 

 the British Museum cannot boast a representative." The 

 bird in question appears to be Tinnunculus gracilis ; but, as a 

 matter of fact, the British Museum has possessed two examples 

 of it for some years past, one of them presented by Mr. E. 

 Newton, C.M.G. Some bones of the Dodo are also exhibited. 

 Passing to Africa, the Cape Colony section contains a 

 mounted group of Gannets, Penguins, and Cormorants, with 

 their nests and eggs, from lehaboe — virtually an advertise- 

 ment of the guano found on that island. On the wall oppo- 

 site is a collection of well-made skins, labelled Avith dates and 

 localities, exhibited by Mr. W. Ayres, probably a son of our 

 valued correspondent Mr. Thomas Ayres of Transvaal. In the 



SER. V, VOL, IV. 2l 



