Letters, Announcements, ^c. 385 



boyhood^ and opened a naturalists^ shop at Guildford, After 

 some years passed here, Mr. Salmon's health rendering it 

 necessary for him to seek a milder climate, he proceeded in 

 1870 to Medellin, the capital of the State of Antioquia,U. S. of 

 Colombia, where, for the last seven years he has been more 

 or less continuously resident, in the service of ths State 

 Government as engineer. But Mr. Salmon's heart was in 

 the wilds, and he devoted the whole of his leisure time to 

 collecting-excursions to diflPerent places round Medellin. 

 Large collections of mammals, birds, insects, and other 

 objects were made and forwarded to his agent in this country, 

 Mr. Edward Gerrard, Jr. Mr. Salmon's collections of birds 

 were very large, numbering some 3500 skins, and have 

 formed the subject of a memoir by Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, 

 which was read at the Meeting of the Zoological Society of 

 London on the 3rd of June last. 



Breeding of Darwin' s Rhea. — Mr. Beerbohm's ' Wanderings 

 in Patagonia ' ^ can hardly be called a scientific work, 

 though his adventures are full of interest, and tell us much 

 of the Guanacos and other animals of the country. Mr. 

 Beerbohm gives us the following details respecting the nest 

 and eggs of Darwin's Rhea [Rhea darwini), of which we 

 believe nothing has yet been published : — 



" I found the nest to be of the roughest description, being 

 simply a hole scooped in the ground, under shelter of a bush, 

 and made soft for the young chicks by a few wisps of grass. 



'' The number of eggs found in a nest varies from ten to 

 forty, being usually about twenty. In size the Patagonian 

 Ostrich's egg is equal to about eight hen's eggs. 



" It is the male bird that hatches the eggs and looks after 

 the young, — being, I believe, the only male among birds 

 which does so. The period of incubation is from twenty to 

 twenty-four days. During rainy weather he never leaves the 

 nest, but will sit for six or seven days without feeding. In 



* Wanderings in Patagonia, or Lifo among the Ostrich-Hunters. By 

 Julius Beerbohm. 8vo. London, 1879. 



SER. IV. VOL. III. 2 F 



