220 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



lidae, leaving the Spoonbills out of consideration altogether. 

 This arrangement is opposed to the views of the best recent 

 writers, who have conclusively shown the near relationship of 

 Tantalus to the Storks (Ciconiidae) , and the close affinity of 

 the Ibises and Spoonbills. M. Oustalet allows eight genera 

 of Ibises, grouping them in two sections. He then describes, 

 more fully than in his former paper (Bull. Soc. Phil. ser. 7, 

 i. p. 25, cf. Ibis, 1877, p. 486), Ibis harmandi andl. gigantea, 

 the two plates illustrating, one the comparative details of the 

 heads of /. harmandi and /. papillosa, the other the full view 

 of I. gigantea. 



XIX. — Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



We have received the following letters, addressed to the 

 Editors of 'The Ibis:'— 



Heligoland, February 10, 1879. 



Sirs, — Permit me to point out an omission which oc- 

 curred in my letter of the 28th of September last published 

 in the January number of ' The Ibis' (p. 102), and by which 

 I am made to identify a huffish grey Phylloscopus with P. 

 viridanus. 



What I wrote was, " a fine specimen of Phylloscopus viri- 

 danus, shot here on the 25th inst. by my eldest son whilst 

 looking after another Phylloscopus greatly resembling P. 

 fuscatus," &c. &c. 



The only ornithological news I have to report for the present 

 consists in the capture of a fine young male of Anas spec- 

 tabilis, shot here on the 11th of last month. This may not 

 prove of general interest ; locally, however, the case stands 

 widely different, since the species has not been captured or 

 seen here during the last forty years ; prior to that period only 

 one female bird stands on record as ever having been obtained 

 near Heligoland. 



Yours truly, 



H. Gatke. 



