252 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



that more than forty pages are devoted to the account of one 

 species, the Great Bustard ; but then it must be acknowledged 

 that never, probably, was the history (in the literal sense of the 

 term) of any species of British bird so completely given ; for, 

 though ostensibly limited to recounting the sad story of the ex- 

 tinction of that noble species in East Anglia, the author^s un- 

 wearied diligence of research and somewhat discursive genius 

 lead him to wander into giving many details respecting it, not 

 only in other parts of England, but also in foreign countries. 

 Mr. Stevenson is certainly to be congratulated on having ob- 

 tained so much information respecting it from our predecessor 

 and his brother, Mr. E. Newton, who, more than twenty years 

 ago, began collecting materials for a complete monograph of the 

 Bustard, and, so far as regards its former occurrence in the 

 counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, must nearly have exhausted the 

 supply. Other species are dwelt upon in detail, only inferior in 

 interest to Otis tarda ; but we cannot afford space to notice 

 them further. We have only to remark that Mr. Stevenson's 

 second volume fully sustains the reputation acquired by the 

 first, and the encomiums passed upon that (Ibis, 1867, p. 238) 

 are equally merited by this. 



Mr. Sclater tells us that he has received letters from Dr. Adolf 

 Bernhard Meyer, from Menado, in Northern Celebes, dated 24th 

 Nov. 1870. Mr. Meyer, after announcing his safe arrival, states 

 that he finds Menado so favourable a centre for prosecuting 

 his zoological researches that he proposes to make it his head 

 quarters during his stay in the East. 



One of our Members, Mr. F. Godman, has recently started 

 on a visit to Madeira and the Canary Islands. He proposes to 

 spend a few months there and to devote himself almost entirely 

 to investigating the bird-fauna of those islands. 



Mr. Swinhoe, after his short holidays, is on the point of re- 

 turning to his duties. On his arrival he will reside at Ningpo, 

 a place to which he has only paid a passing visit during his 

 previous sojournings in China. 



