474 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



scattered all over the field, in small partie8. I thought this one 

 was an immature Ortolan." 



Mr. Bligh has never been in India, and is not acquainted with 

 Indian birds generally ; so that I have no doubt he is correct in 

 what he says of the history of this specimen. 



I will only add that Mr. H. E. Dresser has kindly examined 

 the skin for me, and is quite satisfied that it is a female of Em- 

 beriza huttoni, Blyth. 



Yours, very truly, 



E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH. 



II Osnaburg Street, 



23rd September, 1872. 



We regret to have to add another name to the already heavy 

 list of deaths which have occurred amongst ornithologists during 

 the past year. Sir Andrew Smith, whose name is so familiar in 

 connexion with the ornithology of South Africa, died in London 

 in August last, being in his 75th year. His services to orni- 

 thology are of an important nature; and his work on the 

 Zoology of South Africa contains the first connected account 

 of the Birds of Cape Colony and the adjoining countries. He 

 contributed also several articles on the Birds of the same dis- 

 tricts to the ' South-African Quarterly Journal.' On the com- 

 pletion of this work. Sir A. Smith's opportunities for active 

 interest in ornithology seem to have become exhausted; for 

 during the later years of his life he did not again resume the 

 subject, pressing official duties probably affording him but little 

 leisure for such pursuits. 



The materials for his great woi-k were collected between the 

 years 1821 and 1838 ; and many of the skins he obtained still 

 exist in various museums. The work in question contains many 

 original descriptions ; and though its completeness has since been 

 impaired by the observations of numerous other explorers, it 

 will ever remain perhaps the most important contribution to 

 South- African Ornithology. 



