Letters, Announcements, ^c. 379 



addition to my cabinet^ as well as to the list of the birds of 

 this island. 



Alauda pispoletta (May 26th). A fine old female; its 

 ovary highly developed^ and plumage very perfect. This 

 acquisition also increases the catalogue of the birds of Heligo- 

 land by one, as, in spite of my vigilance respecting the smaller 

 Larks, I had up to the present time not been able to detect 

 this much-coveted prize, whilst Alauda brachydactyla has 

 been captured at least thirty times. The most cursoiy glance 

 will show the difterence between these two nearly allied 

 species, one of the most characteristic distinctions being the 

 relative length of the longest primaries and the longest 

 tertial, which latter feather reaches, in the closed wing of A. 

 pispoletta, to the tip of the sixth primary only, whilst in A, 

 brachydactyla it comes down very nearly to the tips of the 

 longest of these quills. Besides this distinction, the well- 

 defined blackish-brown marks on the feathers of the upper 

 breast and sides of A. pispoletta are never to be mistaken for 

 those scarcely visible obsolete blotches with which its near 

 cousin is sometimes marked on the breast. Putting aside the 

 long spur, A. pispoletta is, in its entire markings, as well as in 

 its more lengthened mould, a Sky-Lark in miniature ; whilst 

 A. brachydactyla resembles more the short and roundish form 

 of the Crested Lark. 



The next highly interesting capture, though the species has 

 been obtained here once before, consists of a fine male of 



Phijlloscopus viridanus (May 30th). This bird is an 

 old male in fine plumage, unfortunately rather riddled with 

 dust-shot. Still I managed, with an extra dose of patience, 

 to produce one perfect side of this pretty and delicate War- 

 bler. The plumage of this specimen is much more silky 

 in appearance, and the yellow of the underparts a somewhat 

 paler and more pure sulphur-yellow, than that of the spe- 

 cimen shot here last autumn [vide Ibis, 1879, p. 102) . A 

 similar difference existed between the only spring specimen 

 of P. superciliosus and the specimens obtained here during 

 their autumnal migration. 



Finally, a very perfect old male of Emberiza melanocephula 



