104 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



same day Charadrius fulvus and Emberiza melanocephala, 

 at another time Acrocephalus agricola together with Ruticilla 

 mesoleuca, and^ again, Falco rufipes along with Alauda bra- 

 chydactyla, as also Sturnus roseus along with E. melano- 

 cephala. 



Instances of this description I could easily multiply to a 

 very great extent ; the above will, however, be sufficient to 

 show that such so-called stray birds do not, as a general rule, 

 consist of silly young individuals roaming about at random, 

 but there is system in their apparently irrational wanderings, 

 though we may not be able to divine the motives — a supposi- 

 tion supported by the fact that, along with the change of 

 direction such birds are proceeding from, there is also a fixed 

 difference of season at which they do appear. 



Yours &c., 



H. Gatke. 



Aldershot, October 24, 1878. 

 Sirs, — A slight error appears in the biographical memoir 

 of the late Mr. Edward Adams, published along with his list 

 of the birds of Michalaski {vide Ibis, 1878, p. 421). 



During the years 1848-49 the ' Investigator,^ forming part 

 of the expedition under Sir James Ross, was commanded by 

 Captain Bird, and not by C-aptain M'Clure. 



Yours &c., 



H. W. Feilden. 



Sirs. — Allow me a few remarks on several notices of my 

 papers published by you in the last number of * The Ibis ' 

 (1878, pp. 479-483). 



Lanius antinorii, Salvad. (Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. xii., 25 Mag- 

 gio 1878), looks like L. pallidirostris , Cass., when on the wing, 

 but not otherwise ; I think that very likely it is the same bird 

 which has been lately described by Cabanis under the name 

 of Lanius (Fiscus) dorsalis {' Journal fvir Ornithologie,' April 

 1878, p. 205) . But which name has the priority ? If«you 

 look at the dates printed on the papers you would say Cabanis. 

 But I may as well remark that the April number of the 



