456 Mr. D. G. Elliot on the Genus Malimbus. 



the 2nd June^ and afterwards met with the species abundantly, 

 both on the islands and on the tundra as far as Dvoinik, 

 generally in pairs^ and never in large flocks, as observed by 

 Alston and Ilarvie Brown on the Dvina (Ibis, 1873, p. 72). 

 We obtained several sets of eggs, and found one nest built of 

 water-plants on the edge of a pool in the marsh near theDvoinik 

 beacon. This nest was a floating structure^ supported by the 

 growing water-plants around, a very different one from those 

 generally found on the shores of our own Highland lakes. It 

 contained one egg of unusually small size, which caused us to 

 carefully identify the old bird, which flew repeatedly close 

 overhead and aff'orded us both ample opportunity without the 

 necessity of shooting it. We should say, from what we ob- 

 served of the Black -throated Diver, that it was not so abundant 

 a species as at Archangel, though also plentiful in all suitable 

 localities. 



In conclusion, we beg to thank those gentlemen, too nu- 

 merous to mention, to whose kind assistance so much of the 

 success of our trip is owing. We cannot, however, refrain 

 from especially thanking Count Schuvaloff" for the invaluable 

 letters of introduction with which he was kind enough to 

 furnish us, which enabled us to continue our journey without 

 any delay, and ensured us a reception (in a countrv^ which 

 has probably never been visited by Englishmen for two and 

 a half centuries) which we shall always look back upon with 

 pleasure and gratitude as long as we live. 



XLIV. — A Review of the Genus Malimbus, Vieillot. 

 By D. G. Elliot, F.R.S.E. &c. 



(Plate XIII.) 



The genus Malimbus was first instituted by Yieillot, in his 

 * Oiseaux Chanteurs,' for the bird described by Daudin three 

 years previously in the ' Annales du jSIuseum' as Tanugra 

 malimbica. Vieillot gave no definition of the genus ; and it 

 was not generally used by ornithologists. In 1816 he sub- 

 stituted for Malimbus, in the 'Analyse,^ the term Sycobius, 



