476 Letters, Announcements, 6^0. 



These birds are highly prized^ in fact are held almost sacred ; 

 the prices given for them vary, according to perfection of 

 colour and shape, from five to twenty guilders each. 



" Each bird is kept separate in a small bamboo cage, of 

 circular shape, with a conical roof, and a cloth cover over the 

 top. Very often these cages are stuck upon high bamboo 

 posts ; but when the owners go out to the rice-fields, or to 

 market, they generally take their pigeons Avitli them. The 

 birds are perfectly tame, and never attempt to fly away, the 

 natives daily taking the birds out of the cage and caressing 

 them. One of my servants spent a month^s salary in buying 

 a Ballam, and took it with him wherever we travelled, and, 

 on his return to Padang, sold it for double what he gave 

 for it. • 



'^ Besides these birds many Malays keep a small green 

 Parrot {Loriculus galgulus), which they call 'Selindit.^ This 

 is a lovely little bird, that always sleeps, like a Bat, head 

 downwards ; the average price of these birds is sixpence each. 



" Sometimes I have also seen the beautiful Ground-Pigeon 

 [Chalcophajys indica), which the Malays call 'Punei tamar,^ 

 and the Beo {Gracula religiosa), which can talk as well as a 

 Parrot/' 



A'o/e on Sternula placens. — Owing to the crass stupidity 

 and mismanagement of our former agents, our first part 

 of * The Ibis^ for 1881 was lost; and Ave have only just 

 received a duplicate copy through our present agent, Mr. W. 

 Wesley, of the Strand. We could not, therefore, sooner 

 amend a typographical error which we see has slipped into our 

 article (Ibis, 1881, p. 134) under the head of /Stovm/ajo/oce??.?. 

 For " a Sternula which he had formerly identified with <S. 

 nereis" read " which we had formerly " &c. The mistake in 

 the identification was ours, not that of Mr. Masters, who has 

 had better opportunities of judging, having access to GoukPs 

 works and numerous specimens. — E. Layard & E. C. Layard, 

 Dec. 19, 1881. 



A new West-African Finch. — In the first number of ' Die 



