02 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



hcesitata — which he himself rescued from the hands of his hawk- 

 ing-boy)j and the Lineated Buzzard [Buteo lineatus). Mr. New- 

 come's single contribution to ornithological literature is, we 

 believe, limited to a brief notice in this Journal (Ibis, 1865, 

 p. 549) of the bird last mentioned ; but he was always ready 

 cheerfully to communicate the results of his long experience to 

 others, and the writers are not few who have availed themselves 

 of his knowledge of the particular subjects in which he was so 

 great a proficient. 



Mr. Sclater has received a letter from Mr. W. T. Blanford 

 (dated Kurrachee, Nov. 16th) announcing that he has been 

 appointed a Member of the British Expedition for the survey of 

 the boundary between Persia and Beloochistan. After finishing 

 the boundary between Mekran and Persia, near the coast, the 

 party will proceed northwards to Seistan and Herat. This will 

 bring them into a most interesting and quite unexplored country, 

 both geologically and zoologically, of which this energetic natu- 

 ralist is quite sure to take due advantage. 



Mr. Blanford remarks that Kurrachee is fairly within the 

 uniform fauna of the desert region. On going out before break- 

 fast he had shot four birds — Galerita cristata, Calandrella hrachij- 

 dactyla, Saxicola isabelUna, and >S^. deserti. The same four species 

 he had found amongst the commonest at Anerly Bay when he 

 landed there with the Abyssinian Expedition. 



Mr. T. K. Salmon, of Guildford, will shortly leave England 

 on a collecting-expedition to the highlands of the United States 

 of Columbia, and will probably fix his headquarters at MedelUn, 

 the capital of the State of Antioquia. Hence he will be in a 

 convenient position to explore the adjoining Cordillera of Quindiu, 

 and Peak of ToHma, and to investigate the zoology of the upper 

 valley of the Cauca, which has hitherto attracted very little 

 attention. Mr. Salmon's agent is Mr. Edward Gerrard, jun., 

 of 31 College Place, Camden Town, who will be happy to receive 

 subscriptions and orders for the expedition. 



