Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, 3^'c. 211 



three of them (Snowy Owl, Great White HeroD, and Bewick's 

 Swan) in his second work, and, so far as my memory serves me, 

 omitted only one (the Great White Heron) in his third work ; 

 but as I have only the second work within reach at present, I 

 may be mistaken in this. 



Now although I believe there are thirty-five deficiencies in 

 British oology, I am still at a loss to discover how many known 

 species ought to be considered British, and I should feel deeply 

 indebted to yourself, or any other member of the British Orni- 

 thologists' Union, who would kindly inform me how I can obtain 

 a reliable list of British birds, and still more indebted to any 

 one who would publish such a list in the way suggested in my 

 last letter. 



In common with many others who feel a real interest in the 

 study of ornithology, I am too much engaged in professional 

 avocations to admit of my devoting much time to the pursuit, 

 and am obliged to confine my attention pretty much to British 

 birds ; consequently I am desirous that my knowledge of these 

 should be as exact as possible, and this, without an authentic list, 

 is difficult to attain. 



Yours, &c., Beaven Rake. 



Mr. Samuel Stevens has just received a letter from Mr, A, R. 

 Wallace, dated " Ternate, December 7th," in which he writes as 

 follows : — " I returned to Ternate a few days after the last mail 

 had left here, having had a most hazardous voyage from Ceram 

 and Waigiou. My collections are immense, but very poor, when 

 it is considered that they are the result of nine months' collecting 

 by two persons in East and North Ceram, Mysol, and Waigiou. 

 Ceram is a wretched country ; and the Papuan Islands, now that 

 the cream is taken ofi" by Aru and Dorey, are really not worth 

 visiting, except for the Birds of Paradise. 



" My beetles, I am sorry to say, are most miserable — smaller 

 and more obscure species than at Dorey, and only a few of the 

 good ones found there, and none in any quantity. 



" In birds there is absolutely nothing good but the Paradisea 

 rubra, which is the only species that inhabits Waigiou, and is 

 peculiar to that island. 



