Letters, Announcements, ^c. 479 



stayed the greater part of the day to watch it ; and when at 

 last I left, the almost inconceivable flood of winged creatures 

 was still rolling on over the steppe from west to east in undi- 

 minished numbers. The Russian powder which I bought at 

 Tiflis had turned out so badly that at this time I had almost 

 given up using it for any thing larger than Teal, and even then 

 it was necessary to be at very close quarters to bring the bird 

 to bag, so miserably weak was it. Thanks, however, to the 

 dense masses in which the Bustards stood and flew, I was 

 enabled to secure sufficient to supply my man and myself 

 with a welcome change of diet by the expenditure of only two 

 of my treasures, ' express ' cartridges. Judging by what 

 I killed, I should say the birds were only just starting from 

 their summer haunts in the Crimea and the Caucasus for 

 their winter-quarters in the east. Had it not been so, they 

 would hardly have been so deliciously plump as we found 

 them"*. 



Expeditions accomplished and in progress. — Mr. Blanford, 

 we are glad to say, has recovered from the attack of fever 

 which prostrated him on the Punjab frontier (see above, 

 p. 348) and is safe in England. Mr. Elwes, accompanied by 

 Mr. Dixon, has just made a very successful excursion of a 

 month's duration to the Aures mountains of Algeria, and has 

 discovered a new Chat {Saxicola). We hope to be able to 

 give some account of this expedition in our next number. 

 Lord Lilford has passed the winter months in his yacht in 

 the Mediterranean, and has secured a fine series of Larus 

 audouini. Of Dr. Finsch we have heard nothing more since 

 he went from Thursday Island in December last. He is, 

 no doubt, in New Guinea. 



Obituary. — Charles Robert Darwin, 

 Died 19th April, 1882. 



In common with all our brethren, editors of scientific 



* [Sport iu the Crimea and Caucasus, by Clive Phillipps-Wolley, 

 F.R.G.S. (8vo: London, 1881), p. 295.] 



