THE OSPREY. 



159 



Mammifek + [obsolete] n. [= F. mammifi're, < 

 NIv. mammifer, an assumed sinpfular of nianinii- 

 fera, etc]. A inaintna]. 



The real status, liDwcver, \yiiu1(1 be Ijctter rej)- 

 reseuted by the following;: 



MAMMibi'iKS. II. pi. 1= F. Mamuiif'l r.'s < 

 NL. Mi:niunt"er;i |. Mi.n.uials. [(Obsolete.) 



The word was anj;l!zed by the elision of the 

 final French - e, and thus the singular would in 

 this case as in nianinial, become assimilated to 

 the original Latin, but that does not militate 

 again ;^1 the historical fact that it was adopted 

 frf)ni the Frencli. 



It is amusing" to notice how long" the Linna^an 

 concept and name failed to gain entrance into 

 French works. In \'almont — Boraare's '"Dic- 

 tionaire raisonne universelle, d'Histoire Nat- 

 urelle" (e. g". 4e ed., 1791) no allusion has been 

 found to Mammalia or Mammifrees under Ani- 

 mal, Mam . or Quadru]:edes. Under Animal, 

 (I. 2.-.<)i Linnaus is said to have divided animals 

 in six classes and the first is called "Quadru- 

 pedes" instead of Mammalia, as it was called 

 by Linnsus, from 1758 onwards. Between the 

 concepts expressed by the terms Quadrupeds 

 and Mammals the difference is vast. 



UNPUBLISHED COR KESPOXDEXCE OF WTLLI.'VM 



SWAINSON. 

 Thdsi- (if (lur reaflers who may have becf>uie 

 interested in tlu' life and experience of William 

 Swainson will be ])lea^>ed to learn tliat his cor- 

 respondence with contemporary" naturalists has 

 been acquired recently by the Linncean Society 

 of lyondon. It is said to extend from 18C6 to 

 18-10. (In 18(i6 Swainson was onlj' 17 j-ears 

 old, and was about to be appointed to the com- 

 missariat department of the British army, and 

 to start for Sicily, as will been seen hy refer- 

 ence to the OSPRKV for March). This corres- 

 pondence, it is further reported, was the subject 

 of the annual address of the retiring" president 

 of the society (Ur. Gdnther) delivered at the an- 

 niversary^ meeting" on May 24th. As Dr. Gi'm- 

 ther has manifested great contempt for Swain- 

 son's ichthyological work, and, in fact, com- 

 pletely ignored him, we will be greatly inter- 

 ested to see his manner of treatment of the sub- 

 ject. \Ve may hope to be able to make use of 

 some of it in the biography now in course of 

 publication. 



A coLosj-AL bird! 



What is i/f 



New York. April 21. 1900. 

 In a paragraph or a daily n:;v,'spaper :'. sliort 

 time ago, I found the following" piece of infor- 

 mation. 



'"The ' ll'csfiiiiuistiT (iazrt/f' describing" an 

 eagle whose fossil remains are on exhibition at 

 the Natural History Museum at London, says 

 the head is larger than that of an ox. and that 

 when alive it could have killed and torn to pieces 

 creatures larger than a lion." 



What is the basis of these statements? Is 

 there any truth in them? 



Yours trulv, 



A. C-. W. 



Tlie notice sent to us is too vague to enable 

 us to answer the question propounded with 

 ctrtaiiity, but it is probably based on the fact 

 that parts of a g"igantic bird formerly living" in 

 the Argentine republic have been acquired by 

 the British Museum (Natural History i and have 

 been put on exhibition. The bird alluded to has 

 been named IVioror/iac/ios loiigissiniiis, and it 

 lived in the late tertiary ag"e in the southern part 

 of South America (Argentina and Patagonia). 

 It was not at all related to the eagles, however, 

 and was more nearly akin to the Screamer or 

 Cariama now living in the same regions. Allu- 

 sion has been made to it in previous numbers of 

 the current volume of the Ospkey (p. 78) as 



one of the largest birds that have ever lived. 

 The newspaper article, however, exaggerates 

 its size as well as strength and disposition. 

 Perhaps a better idea might be received of it by 

 the statement that its head is abf)Ut the size of 

 a hor.>-e"s (narrower than an ox's) \vithf)Ut the 

 lower jaw. 



BIRDS OH CUBA. 

 EDUroRS OI- THE OSPRKV: 



New York. April 25. 1900. 

 We have been hoping that you would have 

 given us before this an article on the Cuban 

 birds as a-ou promised some months ago. When 

 will the article appear? Meanwhile, kindly give 

 the title of some work on Cuban birds. 

 Yours trulv. 



C. A. C. 



We have not yet secured the article we had 

 expected on Cuban birds, but hope to have it 

 before very long", and after our travellers have 

 returned from the island. "Meanwhile" we 

 give the title of the latest work on Cuban orni- 

 thology. It is by Dr. Juan Gundlach, and en- 

 titled "Ornitologia Cubana o Cat.ilogo descrip- 

 tivo de todas las especies de Aves tan to indi- 

 genes como de pa.so anual o accidental observa- 

 dos en S2i anos". In plain English, it is a de- 

 scriptive catalogue of all the species of birds, 

 resident as well as migratory and accidental, 

 which have been observed by Dr. Guudlach 

 during his residence on the island of 53 years. 

 It was published in Havana in 1895, and is a 



