184 Letters, Extracts, Announcements, ^c. 



nests on these places. But, although careful search has been 

 made during the last two years, and a reward offered for 

 nests, eggs, or any signs of nidification, nothing whatever has 

 been found in that direction. It is therefore very probable 

 that the birds use these holes and burrows simply as resting- 

 places during the day, Avhence they sally forth at night to 

 their feeding- grounds at sea. The latter is distant only, 

 as the Crow flies, about twelve or fourteen miles. The birds 

 are found in their burrows chiefly during the months of No- 

 vember, December, January, and March. Sometimes two 

 lie in one hole, and the dogs easily find them ; but it has 

 been noticed that the birds are always full-grown, and with 

 no apparent nest. I have been led to send you these remarks 

 in the hope that possibly some of your readers with a wider 

 knowledge of the habits of Petrels might be able to give some 

 clue as to the locality and general character of their nesting- 

 places." 



Loddigesia mirabilis. — At the Zoological Society's Meet- 

 ing on the 15th of November last, Messrs, Taczanowski and 

 Stolzmann's memoir on this most wonderful of Humming- 

 birds was read, and a series of skins showing the different 

 plumages of the adult male and female and young male was 

 exhibited. The adult male of Loddigesia is stated by the 

 authors to possess only four rectrices, the two conspicuous 

 external feathers and a diminutive median pair. The long 

 middle tail-feathers represented in Gould's figure of this 

 species are, in reality, the middle pair of under tail-coverts. 

 This tail- structure is quite unique in the class of Birds. 



In 'The Times' of the 9th of July 1881 was announced 

 the death of Dr. Hildebrandt, who has added so much to our 

 ornithological knowledge of Eastern Africa. He had been 

 driven back by the rains in an attempt to penetrate into 

 the southern part of Madagascar ; and his name must be 

 added to the long list of those explorers who have fallen 

 victims to their zeal in that unhealthy island. He died on 

 the 29th of May 1881. 



