696 Letters, Extracts, Notices, S;c. 



abstract of Professor Seeley's pai)er has appeared, and tlic 

 paper itself will not be published in the Quarterly Journal of 

 the Geological Society. 



Yours, &c., 



W. T. Blanford. 



September 3i'd, 1900. 



Progress of the National Collection of Birds. — From the 

 Report on the British Museum for the year ending March 31st_, 

 1900, which has been recently issued as a Parliamentary 

 Paper, we extract the following passages relating specially to 

 the Collection of Birds. Amongst the principal presents 

 announced is a large collection of recent and fossil mammals, 

 birds, and other objects from South America, and among 

 these birds is an example of the White-throated Caracara 

 {Milvago albigularis) , which has not been met with since the 

 days when Darwin discovered it in Patagonia. The opera- 

 tions of the year in the Bird Department are described as 

 follows : — 



" During the past year the registration and incorporation 

 of the Salvin-Godman Collection and recent accessions have 

 been completed. The preliminary re-arrangement of the 

 exhibition scries throughout the whole Gallery has been com- 

 pleted, and more than half the cases are now filled by new 

 and beautifully mounted specimens. The old specimens, 

 when of historic value, have been unmounted, and the 

 remainder placed among the duplicates. The mounting of 

 the new specimens has mainly been executed by Mr. CuUing- 

 ford, of Durham. 



''Three new groups of British birds, with their nests, have 

 been added during the year, viz. : the Rock-Dove {Columba 

 livia), presented by Capt. S. G. Beid, Mr. G. A. St. Quintin, 

 and Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant ; the Lesser-spotted Wood- 

 pecker (Dendrocopus minor), presented by Mr. A. M. Blake; 

 and Leach's Pork-tailed Petrel {Oceanodroma leucorrlioa), 

 presented by Col. Hugh G. Barclay. 



" Rapid progress continues to be made with the re-arrange- 

 ment of the collections of eggs and skeletons. 



" Up to December 1899, 28,000 specimens of eggs had 



