208 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



Mr. A. B. Brooke is hard at work in Sardinia, whither he re- 

 paired early in the present year. It was his intention to reach 

 his collecting-ground before the departure of the Waders &c. ; 

 but we hear that he was too late to find them this season, and 

 has therefore turned his attention to other groups. 



We are glad to learn that Mr. Layard, who has already worked 

 at the ornithology of a large portion of the Old World, is about 

 to recommence his labours in, to him, an entirely new field. Be- 

 fore our next issue he will have reached Para, and have plunged 

 into the midst of the South-American fauna. Though this 

 district was visited by Mr. Wallace, and an account of his collec- 

 tions has been given in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological So- 

 ciety' for 1867, and had been previously traversed by Spix 

 and Natterer, we doubt not that much remains to be done, not 

 only in increasing the list of local species, but also working out 

 in detail the habits of the many peculiar forms found at Para 

 and its vicinity. Our readers will remember that, zoologically. 

 Para is essentially an outlying district of Guiana, nearly 90 per 

 cent, of its birds belonging to that country. Still it is by no 

 means destitute of peculiar features, in not a few cases the huge 

 Amazon forming the boundary between closely allied but distinct 

 races. To these, we doubt not, Mr. Layard will pay especial 

 attention. We also hear that a local interest is springing up in 

 the city of Para for the zoological riches surrounding it. Mr. 

 Layard's temporary residence there is extremely auspicious, as 

 he has invariably succeeded in imparting no small portion of his 

 own enthusiasm to those with whom circumstances have thrown 

 him into connexion. 



We are glad to hear that Didunculus strigirostris is not so 

 rare in Samoa as has been usually supposed. The authors of 

 * South-Sea Bubbles ' tell us that during a recent war skir- 

 mishing parties were driven into out-of-the-way places, and 

 '' rookeries " of these birds were discovered, and that they were 

 fortunate enough to procure a pair. These were, unfortunately, 

 lost with some 60 other skins in their subsequent shipwreck. 

 Its flesh is described as " brown and delicious." 



