312 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^'c. 



Mr. Gould informs us that the Night-Heron of the Falkland 

 Islands, which we have hitherto termed N. gardeni^, and con- 

 cerning which Capt. Abbott has written an interesting note in 

 our last Number, is not the same as the North-American bird, as 

 we had imagined from Mr. Gould himself having called it Nycti- 

 corax americanus (see P. Z. S. 1859, p. 96), but belongs to the 

 darker-coloured species found in the southern parts of South 

 America, Nycticorax obscurus, Licht., Bp. Consp. ii. p. 141. 

 With regard to the Larus roseiventris of the Falkland Islands 

 (p. 1G6), we have endeavoured to solve the question of its specific 

 validity by sending a specimen to the Berlin Museum, whence 

 Dr. Cabanis has obligingly furnished us with the following note 

 respecting the species : — 



" Lai-us roseiventris of Gould cannot be confounded with L. 

 maculipennis of Lichtensteiu [Mouette blanche, Azar. ?j, because 

 L. maculipennis has the greater part of the wings black, only 

 spotted with white. 



" Larus albipennis, Licht., is identical with L. glaucotes, Meyen, 

 the only diflference being that Meyen's original example is rather 

 smaller. I can find no specific distinction. 



" Larus roseiventi-is, therefore, has only to be compared with 

 L. glaucotes, Meyen. These two birds are very much alike, but 

 may perhaps be considered separable, as forms belonging re- 

 spectively to the eastern and western coasts. L. roseiventris 

 diff'ers in its somewhat smaller size, in its remarkably smaller 

 and shorter bill, shorter feet, and its underside not being pure 

 white, but tinged with rose-colour.'' 



In part i. of the ' Journal fiir Ornithologie ' for this year, G. 

 von Rosenberg of Amboyna announces the discovery of a new 

 species of Cassowary in the island of Salawattie, which he pro- 

 poses to call C. kaupi. It has no ivattles, and appears to be quite 

 distinct from the several other species of this genus which have 

 lately been described under the names C. bennettii, C. uniappen- 

 diculatus, and C. bicarunculatus. 



* See P.Z. S. 1860, p. 387, and ' Ibis,' 1861, p. 15/. 



