350 Letter's, Announcements, ^c. 



to be faded in our copy. There is only a black spot under the 

 throat ; the checks are vinous-brown, as Mr. Diggles describes 

 them (Orn. Austral, part, xiv.) ; but the colours in his plate 

 are not exactly correct, the blue on the wings being too 

 light, and the brown of the neck not deep enough. The band 

 on the breast appears to be broader than in Temminck^s figure. 

 Should this species prove to be distinct from the New-Guinea 

 Pitta mackloti, I beg leave to suggest for it the name of Pitta 

 DiGGLESi. I am, Sir, 



Yours respectfully, 



Gerard Krefft. 



Australian Museum, Sydney, 

 29tli January, 1869. 



Washington, March 4, 1869. 

 Sir, — A very interesting discovery was made last summer 

 respecting the bony process on the bill of the Pelecanus tracky- 

 rliynchus, or American White Pelican, by Mr. Robert Ridgway, 

 a young ornithologist of much promise, attached to the U. S. 

 Geological Survey of the 40th Parallel, under Mr. Clarence King. 

 Happening to be near Pyramid Lake, in Nevada, a celebrated 

 locality for the breeding of the White Pelican, Mr. King sent 

 Mr. Ridgway there to observe their habits and collect their 

 eggs. Procuring a boat, Mr. Ridgway and companion pro- 

 ceeded to the breeding-ground, an island in the lake, some 

 miles from the shore, and found the Pelicans nesting by the 

 thousands. On their arrival all the male birds had the bony 

 crest or process on the upper surface of the bill characteristic of 

 the species; but as the season advanced this fell off, until, 

 towards the end of their stay, not one was left attached, and 

 the ground was strewn with the " centre boards,'^ as they are 

 popularly termed, where they could have been gathered by the 

 bushel. When the process is developed Mr. Ridgway did not 

 ascertain, or how long before the season commenced. Changes 

 in the plumage of the bird, not before noticed, will be given in 



Mr. King's report. 



I am, &c. 



Spencer F. Baird. 



