Letters, Announcements, ^c. 455 



Additions to the Bird-collection of the British Museum in 

 1884. — We subjoin the portion of the Parliamentary Report 

 on the British Museum for 1884 that relates to the class 

 Aves. Of the 3623 specimens added to the collection during 

 the year^the mostimportant acquisitions were the following: — 

 A series of Cormorants in different plumages from Corn- 

 wall, and a similar series of Black Guillemots from Thurso ; 

 presented by Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S. A pair of Norfolk 

 Plovers with their eggs, and a pair of White Wagtails with 

 nest and young ; presented by Lord Walsingham. A pair of 

 Woodcocks with nest and young ; presented by Lord Lovat. 

 Nests of the Song-Thrush, Blackbird, and Kingfisher, with 

 the young and parent birds ; presented by T. Harcourt 

 Powell, Esq. Two pairs of Dartford Warblers with nests, 

 eggs, and young ; presented by Colonel Irby. Two pairs of 

 Redshanks with nests, eggs, and young ; presented by the 

 Rev. H. A. Macpherson. A pair of the Meadow-Pipit and 

 Reed-Warbler, with nests and young; presented by R. Rowd- 

 ier Sharpe, Esq. The specimens of Picus villosus (an Ameri- 

 can Woodpecker) shot near Whitby in 1848; presented by 

 F. Bond, Esq. Forty-one Wagtails and Pipits from Norway ; 

 presented by the Christiania Museum. Sixty-nine specimens 

 (skins and eggs) from Corsica, including the types of Sitta 

 whiteheadi ; presented by John Whitehead, Esq. Twenty- 

 eight Wagtails and Pipits from Italy ; presented by Professor 

 Giglioli. Seven hundred and seventy-five specimens illus- 

 trating the plumages of Swallows, Wagtails, and American 

 Warblers; presented by R. Bowdler Sharpe, Esq. One 

 hundred and nineteen American Warblers {Mniotiltidce) and 

 twenty Swallows {Hirundinidce) ; presented by the United 

 States National Museum. Five birds, among them the type 

 of Xema sahinii ; presented by the executors of the late Sir 

 Edward Sabine, F.R.S. Twenty-eight specimens from Japan, 

 including the type of Bubo blakistoni • presented by Captain 

 Blakiston. Two hundred and fifty-four skins of birds from 

 Nagasaki ; presented by F. Ringer, Esq. Three hundred 

 and thirty-two specimens from Central India; presented by 

 Colonel Swinhoe. Ninety specimens from Mysore and the 



