80 Letters, Announcements, S^'c. 



A further peculiarity of this species is, that although it assumes 

 the black head in its second spring, when it commences to breed, 

 yet it does not acquire the full white primaries until the third 

 spring. Figures and descriptions of this bird are to be found in 

 Gould^s ' Birds of Europe,' vol. v., and in Bree's ' Birds of 

 Europe not observed in the British Isles,' vol. iv. p. 104. 



I am yours, 



Howard Saunders. 

 London, August 1871. 



Sir, — In 'The Ibis' for 1870, p. 153, Dr. Salvadori asserted 

 that Francolinus vulgaris still existed in Sicily ; and having in 

 reply, op. cit. p. 299, briefly stated my reasons for believing in 

 its extinction in that island, I was content to let the matter 

 rest until it should be settled by Professor Doderlein, who was 

 then on the point of visiting Terranova for that express purpose. 

 The result of his expedition is given in the 3rd part of his 

 * Avifauna del Modenese e della Sicilia,' pp. 159, 160 (Palermo, 

 1871), from which I translate the following: — 



" I confess that on this occasion I have not had the good 

 fortune to kill a Francolin myself; but from the information ob- 

 tained I can state the following : — 1st, That, up to the end of 

 1865, individuals were annually obtained near Suero and Butera, 

 where the herbage is aromatic, and were sent for the Christmas 

 festivities to the Prince of Monteleone-Pignatelli, proprietor of 

 that fertile plain. 2nd. That later on, the species being now 

 represented by extremely few individuals, single specimens were 

 occasionally obtained on the estate of Falconara, near Terranova, 

 I'ecently acquired by the Baron Bordonaro, where, in the autumn 

 of 1869, one, perhaps the last"^ individual, was procured, and eaten 

 at a dinner at Terranova. This fact, attested by the Prefect 

 and many sportsmen of the country, was announced to me in 

 the course of the past year by Professor Tacchini, who was down 

 there to take observations for the solar eclipse of 1870. 3rd. 

 That, notwithstanding the extreme rarity of this bird in the 

 present day, the captain of the rural guard of Terranova pro- 



[* The italics are mine. — II. S.] 



