Letters, Extracts, Notices, i^c. 505 



reports {cf. Ibis, 189 A, p. 164). Notes are given on 66 

 species, and on the exact dates and places of their occurrences. 

 Further notes are added in conclusion : amongst which are 

 remarks upon the remains of Pelicans in the Kitchen-mid- 

 dens, and on the supposed recent occurrence of this bird 

 in Denmark {cf. Ibis, 1894, p. 318, and 1895, p. 291); 

 also on birds lately received from the Faroes and from 

 Greenland. 



XLI. — Letters, Extracts, Notices, S^'C. 



We have received the following letters, addressed "■ to the 

 Editors '' :— 



Sirs, — Last year the Palestine Redstart {Ruticilla semirvfa) 

 was, as usual, abundant around our mountain-camp in the 

 Lebanon. The males sang freely, and I was impressed afresh 

 with the curious rustling sound tliey make at the end of the 

 song proper, just as if the birds were scraping backwards and 

 forwards with their bills among dry leaves. I have a strong 

 impression of having read somewhere that the Common Red- 

 start {R. phcenicura) utters a similar sound in connection 

 with its song ; but none of the books to which I have access 

 at present make any mention of it, and R. phcenicura does 

 not sing during its visits to us. No doubt some of your 

 readers can tell me what the facts are in reference to the 

 latter species. 



If this sound — apparently useless — be common to both 

 species, that would argue either some unknown and somewhat 

 important function, or else it would show how tenaciously a 

 character may be perpetuated by heredity in the absence of 

 selection. Could such an unmusical finale to an otherwise 

 melodious performance have a function analogous to what 

 Dr. Wallace calls ^^recognition marks ''? I mean, as csddence 

 to the female that her suitor was, so to speak, of her own 

 station in life. It is not often that I see R. semirvfa and 

 R. phcenicura in the same place and side by side ; but tlieir 



