386 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



fine weather lie grazes for au hour or two in the evening, but 

 never strays far from the nest, as Master Reynard, who is 

 always prowling near, would soon make a raid on the eggs. 

 It is said that if one e^^ is broken or abstracted from the 

 nest during the absence of the male bird, on returning he 

 will immediately detect the theft, and become so furious that 

 he will dash the remaining eggs to pieces, and dance round 

 the nest as if frantic. 



" After the hatching-period the birds lay their eggs pro- 

 miscuously about the plains. These eggs are called '^huat- 

 chos ' by the natives. They keep for a long time ; and I have 

 frequently met with huatchos in April which, although they 

 must have been laid more than six months at that time, were 

 still fairly eatable. 



^"^The Ostrich of Southern Patagonia {Rhea darivini) is 

 smaller than the ' Avestruz moro' [Rhea amei^icana) , as the 

 species which frequents the country near the river Negro is 

 called by the natives. 



" The colour of its plumage is brown, the feathers being 

 tipped with white, whereas the Moro, as its name indicates, 

 is uniformly grey. The R. darwini are extremely shy birds ; 

 and as their vision is remarkably acute, it is by no means an 

 easy matter to catch them, unless one has very swift dogs to 

 hunt with.^^ 



Progress of Ornithology in India. — On this subject we ex- 

 tract the following passages from Mr. W. T. Blanford's address 

 to the Asiatic Society of Bengal at their Annual Meeting, 

 held on the 5th of February last : — 



" Birds have, as usual, attracted far more attention than 

 any other class of animals, vertebrate or invertebrate, and 

 foremost amongst the publications devoted to them must 

 be placed Mr. Hume's Journal of Ornithology for India and 

 its dependencies, which continues to appear, under the title 

 of ' Stray Feathers.'' By far the greater portion of this perio- 

 dical is from the pen of its proprietor and editor; and it is 

 difficult to overestimate the energy and hard labour by which 

 alone a work of this kind can be published by one busily 



