718 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



has recently moved to New Zealand, where he has become 

 first assistant to Mr. Thomas Cheeseman, the Curator of 

 the Auckland Museum. In a letter recently received by 

 Mr. W. L. Sclater, Griffin gives a good account of this 

 Museum, which is well-known for its rich Maori Collections, 

 supposed to be the finest in the world. The Museum- 

 building contains five exhibition-halls, besides the usual 

 offices, and an extensive library. The main hall is devoted 

 to the foreign Zoological Collections, and holds a series of 

 groups in large cases, called the " African Group/^ the 

 ''Arctic Group,'^ and so on, shewing the characteristic 

 animals of the different Regions. The series of birds is 

 now being re-mounted and is receiving fresh additions. 

 Mr. Griffin describes Auckland as a lovely place with a 

 climate like that of Cape Town, and is evidently much 

 pleased with his new post, for which we believe he is 

 well fitted. He will be pleased to attend to any special 

 requirements of naturalists. 



Bird-markinq Experiments in England. — Mr. H. F. 

 "Witherby. the Editor of ' British Birds,' is inaugurating, 

 in connection with his magazine, a scheme for marking birds 

 in this country in a similar way to that employed at the 

 German Bird-Observatory at Rossitten. It is hoped by this 

 means to gain a more exact idea of the movements of 

 individual birds than has ever been possible by any other 

 method ; and this should not only throw light upon the more 

 general aspects of migration, but should tell us a great 

 deal that is at present obscure with regard to particular 

 points. For example, while we may know the general dis- 

 tribution of a species in winter and summer, we do not 

 know the extent of the migration of individual birds; or, 

 indeed, whether in such cases as the Song-Thrush and Robin, 

 certain individuals ever migrate at all. The movements 

 of sea-birds are very little understood, and much might be 

 learned from marking a large number. This plan might 



