Letters, Announcements, ^c. 205 



which there were enormous colonies, and birds of almost every 

 description, disappeared. During the past two months he has 

 received two specimens of Coracias (jarrula from Ajmeer and 

 the Berars, killed by Captain Kenneth Mackenzie, a bird never 

 before recorded within our limits out of Cashmere,, the N.W. 

 Himalayas, and the Peshawur valley, affording another remark- 

 able coincidence probably attributable to the same cause, viz. 

 the pressure of severe drought in their accustomed haunts. 



In habits the present Bee-eater is similar to its congeners, as- 

 sociating in small, and occasionally in large, flocks, and keeping 

 near to water, over which it hovers and soars, catching insects 

 on the wing. It is seen sometimes in company with M. philip- 

 pensis ; but its flight is more powerful and frequently sustained 

 for upwards of a mile without returning to its perch, to which 

 it does not seem so much attached as the smaller kinds of Me- 

 ropidse. Its note is a rolling whistle uttered frequently while 

 on the wing, somewhat similar to that of M. philippensis, but 

 more prolonged and musical. 



I remain. Sir, yours, &c., 



G. F. L. Marshall, 



R. Engineers. 



The wandering instincts of the Members of the B. 0. U. in 

 the interests of their favourite pursuit seem to be especially de- 

 veloped at the present time, no fewer than eleven of our number 

 being now either residents or travellers abroad. Of the doings of 

 the latter, the following notes will doubtless interest our readers. 



Mr. Tristram is again visiting his old haunts in Palestine. 

 Quite recently we received the alarming intelligence that he and 

 his party had been captured by a band of marauding Arabs. 

 Almost immediately afterwards the news of his safety reached 

 us. The following is an account of the main features of his cap- 

 ture and release. 



It appears from Mr. Tristram's letters that he left Jerusalem with 

 his party on their scientific explorations on the 30th of January. 

 Their cavalcade was large, consisting of eight horsemen, three ser- 

 vants, nine muleteers, eleven mules, and four asses. A guard of 



SER. III. VOL. II. Q 



