464 Letters, Announcements, &;c. 



were sitting quietly on a branch, and the four cocks, dressed 

 in their very best, tlieir ruffs of green and yellow standing 

 out, giving them a large handsome appearance about the 

 head and neck, their long flowing plumes so arranged that 

 every feather seemed carefully combed, out, and the long 

 wires stretched well out behind, were dancing in a circle 

 round them. It was an interesting sight ; first one, then 

 another would advance a little nearer to a hen, and she, 

 coquette-like, would retire a little, pretending not to care 

 for any advances. A shot was fired, contrary to my ex- 

 pressed wish ; there was a strange commotion, and two of 

 the cocks flew away, the others and the hens remained. Soon 

 tlie two returned, and again the dance began and continued 

 long. As I had strictly forbidden any more shooting, all 

 fear was gone ; and so, after a rest, the males came a little 

 nearer to the dark brown and certainly not pretty hens. 

 Quarrelling ensued, and in the end all six birds flew away. 



" Passing through a forest at the back of the Astrolabe, I 

 saw several more engaged as above ; our approach startled 

 them, and away they flew. 



" Anxious to taste the flesh, I had one cooked after being 

 skini7ed ; but, although boiled for several hours, it was as 

 tough as leather, and the soup not much to our taste. For- 

 tunately we had other things for dinner, so put the paradise- 

 dish aside. •'^ 



Recent Appointments in the United States. — We have much 

 pleasure in announcing that Mr. William Brewster, of Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., has been appointed to succeed Mr. J. A. Allen 

 in the care of the ornithological collections of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge ; also that, a branch of 

 " Economic Ornithology " having been established under the 

 Division of Entomology of the Department of Agriculture 

 in the U.S. Government, Dr. C. Hart Merriam has been 

 selected as Ornithological Agent to take charge of this work. 

 Dr. Merriam^s headquarters will be the "U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.^' 



