116 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



will, I hope, be the means of eliciting further information on 

 this interesting subject. 



I am, I confess, unwilling to give up as extinct in Europe a 

 species described by Stephens in 1819 as occupying all the warm 

 parts of Europe, from Spain to the Levant. 



C. R. Bree, M.D. 



Since the above letter was received, Mr. Bree has forwarded 

 to us the following translation of a letter from Prof. Schlegel: — 



" Ley den, Nov. 20, 1862. 



" Sir, — I can assure you, in the most conscientious manner, 

 that Francolinus vulgaris is found in Europe. 



" Our former traveller, M. Cantraine, now Professor in the 

 University of Gard, killed many specimens of this bird in Sicily, 

 of which we have many in the galleries of our Museum. You 

 will find, beside, in the * Faune Sicile' by M. Malherbe, many 

 remarks about the habits of this bird, and upon modes by which 

 it is taken in Sicily. This savant also states that it does not 

 inhabit any other part of the world, except Sicily and the island 

 of Cyprus. I do not find it mentioned either in the Fauna of 

 Portugal or that of Greece. " Yours, &c., 



" H. Schlegel.^' 



Mr. J. H. Gurney sends us the following note on Hirundo 

 monteiri, figured in our last Number (vol. iv. pi. 11) : — 



" The figure given of this Swallow in ' The Ibis,^ vol. iv. p. 340, 

 would appear not to be the first representation of this species 

 which has been published, as the ' Hirondelle a ventre roux, 

 du Senegal,' figured by BufFon in the ' Planches Enluminees,* 

 pi. 310, is a bird without the rufous nuchal collar, and therefore 

 probably identical with that to which the designation of ' Hirundo 

 monteiri' has now been given. 



" It is also worthy of remark, that in the short description given 

 by Linnaeus of his Hirundo senegalensis no allusion is made to 

 the rufous collar. 



" Brisson, on the contrary, describes the Hirundo senegalensis 

 as having He col roux,' in which he is followed by more recent 

 naturalists. 



