Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 361 



conclusion, in spite of the many difficulties which his residence 

 in New York and the critical circumstances of the times have 

 raised against him. It would be untrue to say it is not open to 

 criticism upon some points ; but how few undertakings of the 

 sort rise above the standard of mediocrity ! 



We cannot but conscientiously commend Mr. Elliotts work to 

 our brother-ornithologists, and advise them to make an early 

 application for copies of it, as the drawings are now erased from 

 the stones, and the number left for sale is very limited. 



We have several other American publications in hand, a 

 notice of which we are compelled, by want of space, to defer 

 until our next issue. 



XXXI. — Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



We have received the following letters, addressed " To the 

 Editor :"— 



To the Editor of ' The Ibis.' 



Sir, — Having been enabled, by another winter in Egypt, to 

 continue the observations on the habits and nidification of the 

 Spotted Cuckoo {Cuculus glandarius), made last year in company 

 with my friend Mr. Allen, and communicated by him in the 

 September Number of ' The Ibis ' *, I venture to send you the 

 following extracts from my note-book, trusting that the interest 

 of the subject will prove sufficient excuse for the rough form in 

 which they are presented, especially as I consider that they 

 clearly establish the fact of the parasitic habits of this bird, at 

 least as far as Egypt is concerned. Last year I had the pleasure 

 of presenting to the Zoological Society a young C. glandarius, 

 taken by me from a nest of Corvus comix ; and this year, as will 

 be seen from the subjoined notes, I have obtained, in repeated 

 instances, both eggs and young birds from similar situations. 



Jan. 20th. Near Thebes, shot two C. glandarius in a "sont"- 

 grove, the female with ovaries very much developed. Seeing a 

 nest of Corvus comix in one of the trees of the same grove, I 

 * See Ibis, 1862, p. 357. 



