510 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 



The Australian Museum, Sydney. — From the Report of 

 the Trustees of this Museum for 1894 we learn that Dr. E. 

 P. Ramsay^ after twenty years' service^ has resigned the 

 Curatorship owing to ill-health, and has been succeeded by 

 Mr. Robert Etheridge, Jr., formerly of the British Museum. 

 The operations of the Museum have been much hampered 

 during the past year by the diminution of the Parliamentary 

 grant, and very few additions have been made. The only 

 publication issued since the last Report has been pt. iv. of 

 the Catalogue of the Birds — Picarite, subord. Haley ones, by 

 Dr. E. P. Ramsay. 



Birds in Arabia Felix. — In Dhof ar, on the southern coast 

 of Arabia, Mr. Theodore Bent (Geogr. Journ. vi. p. 121) ap- 

 pears to have hit upon a district that may well deserve the 

 name of Arabia Felix. On entering the mountains by the 

 Wadi Ghersid the explorers found themselves in a 'Walley 

 covered with the richest tropical vegetation.'" A " small and 

 exquisitely beautiful lake" was '^ well stocked with ducks and 

 other water-birds," and the fig-trees were " full of birds." 

 In another valley, behind Taka (the Abyssapolis of Ptolemy), 

 is a lake full of bulrushes, with " quantities of birds " on 

 it — '' Ducks, Herons, and Waterhens," while the " banks are 

 adorned with very fine timber." Here is a fine opening for 

 an ornithological tour. Could not our friend Col. Yerbury, 

 who has so ably explored Aden, extend his researches to 

 Dhofar ? Not a single specimen has yet been obtained in 

 this district. 



The Summit of Roraima and its Birds. — The last number 

 of * Timehri ' contains the following account by Mr. Quelch 

 of his recent ascent of Roraima : — " Since the discovery of a 

 path to the summit: of this famous mountain, and its first 

 ascent in 1884 by Messrs. im Thurn and Perkins, several 

 orchid-collectors have made the ascent ; but little, however, 

 has been contributed by them to our knowledge of its topo- 

 graphy. Taking advantage of the opportunity afforded by 

 our expedition to the great Savannah, Mr. F. V. McConnell 

 and I, accompanied by Mr. C. A. Lloyd, determined to make 



