358 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 



a new family formed to contain Parisoma, 'Alclppe/ and 

 their allies. But we cannot quite agree in uniting the 

 African LioptUl (which are certainly closely allied to Pari- 

 soma) to the Asiatic form 'Alcippe.' " 



This remark is, in my opinion, rather hasty, unless some 

 characters can be mentioned for separating Lioptilus from 

 Alcippe. There are good series of both the type-species in 

 the British Museum, and the results I arrived at, on com- 

 paring them, have been fully given (B. Afr. ii. pp. 206-208). 



Not finding any character for distinguishing Lioptilus 

 from Alcippe, I adopted Dr. R. B. Sharpe's "Group IX. 

 LioTRicHES. The Hill Tits " (Cat. B. M. vii. p. 590) as a 

 family, and, as I include in it Parisoma, the first described 

 genus to which any of its members belong, I call the fanily 

 Parisomid.'e. 



Yours &c., 



G. E, Shelley. 

 39 Egertou Gardens, S.W. 



The Great Belted Kingfisher in Holland. — In the last 

 number of 'Aquila^ (1901, p. 19 1) is recoided the very 

 interesting fact of the occurrence of a specimen of the Great 

 Belted Kingfisht-r (Ceryle alcyon) near Arnheiin, in Holland, 

 on December 29lh, 1899, which, to judge by appearances, 

 could not have been an imported individual. We know that 

 this bird has already secured a place in the ' British List' 

 on the faith of two examples shot in Ireland in 1845 (see 

 Saunders's Man. B. B. ed. 2, p. 280). So many Nearctic 

 stragglers have been already met with on the w. si^ern coasts 

 of Europe that we see no difficulty in accepting the veracity 

 of this fresh arrival — the more so as birds of this species 

 are seldom, if ever, brought to Europe alive in captivity. 



Birds of the oiUhjing Islands of New Zealand. — The Earl 

 of Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand, and Honorary 

 Member of the Zoological Society of London, has lately 

 returned to Wellington from a month's trip rtnnid the out- 

 lying islands Ix lo.iging to his jurisdiction. lie was ac- 



