476 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. *. 



I brought away was a Bulbul [Ixos xanthopygius), which I after- 

 wards found to be very common among the orange-groves at 

 Jaffa. Mar-Saba was the only place where I saw Tristram^s 

 Grackle [Amydrus tristramii). This bird is very tame inside the 

 convent-walls, but outside is by no means so easy of approach, 

 and I was much vexed that I was obliged to come away without 

 obtaining a specimen. At Jaffa we fell in with large flocks of 

 Merops apiaster, but only shot three specimens, as they used to 

 fly during the whole day at a very high elevation, and only come 

 down late in the evening to roost among the orange-groves. I 

 observed at Jaffa Scolopax gallinago, Linn., Totanus calidris, 

 Bechst., and Cuculus canorus, Linn. Every ornithologist who 

 has made the tour of Syria must know how difficult it is to find 

 time for skinning specimens, and still more how difficult it is to 

 carry them when preserved ; and as I endeavoured to avoid as 

 much as possible destroying birds that I did not intend to 

 preserve, this must be my excuse for not giving a much longer 

 list of the birds I obtained in the southern part of Syria. 



The following extract is from a recent letter of Prof, Baird : — 

 " We received a nice lot of birds some time ago from near 

 Vera Cruz, and amongst them the long-lost Spiza leclancheri — 

 a lovely species. We have had considerable additions from 

 Mexico, and a few days ago the first instalments of Mr. Xantus's 

 new collections came to hand, after two months' delay at Panama. 

 They were all obtained at Colima. Since then he has collected 

 largely in the mountains around, and added much to the list. 

 This box (No. 1) contains about sixty species, many truly North 

 American, others peculiar; among the latter are Crotophaga 

 sulcirostris, Centurus elegans, Hylotomus scapularis, Cissilopha 

 sanblasiana, Cassiculus melanicterus, an Icterus very like /. cucul- 

 latus, but different, I. pustulatus, Pitangus derbianus, Myiozetetes 

 texensis, Myiarchus lawrencii, &c. There is a Pachyramphus 

 there, very like P. aglaics vel affinis, but smaller, and white 

 beneath, except the red and an ashy shade across the breast ; 

 the head above blackish, in strong and abrupt contrast to the 

 cinereous back and tail ; also a species of Zonotrichia, much like 

 Z. mystacalis. 



