Letters, Extracts, and Xoles. 215 



to British ornithologists. But they will be pleased with the 

 dainty figures and brilliant colours — in some cases, we may 

 perhaps say. a little too brilliant. 



Among the strange forms introduced to ns we may call 

 attention to the Sand-Partridge {Ammoperdiw heyi), which 

 is a purely desert species. This, as Mr. Whymper says. 

 " is a most charming, lively little bird, bustling about. You 

 rarely see it for long. Even in January it still keeps in 

 coveys, running along in and out of the boulders, and very 

 quick and agile." 



It was rather bold of Mr. "Whymper to figure the Shoe-bill 

 (Ba/ceniceps rex) in a book on Egyptian birds, its true home 

 being far away on the White Nile, but, at all events, we are 

 given correct figures of its grotesque attitudes, taken from 

 the specimens in the Zoological Gardens at Giza. 



In concluding the author gives a list of the names of the 

 Egyptian birds known to him — 35G in all. 



VIII. — Letters, Extracts, and Xotes. 



We have received the following letters, addressed "To the 

 Editors of 'The Ibis ' » :— 



Sirs, — I wish to bring to ycur notice that a shore time 

 a^o, in dealing with my specimens of the Mediterranean 

 Falcons {Falco pumcus and its nearly allied forms), I quoted 

 several books, amongst them the excellent work on the ' Birds 

 of Tunisia/ by the well-known ornithologist Mr. Whitaker, 

 who states that he did not include the Saker (Hierofalco 

 cherrug) for Tunisia*. 



Afterwards I recollected that amongst the numerous 

 specimens of the Saker in my collection there was one that 



* " I have never obtained or heard of the Saker Falcon having been 

 met with in Tunisia, but it may occur there occasionally as a straggler, 

 because examples of it are not unfrequently obtained in Italy, and 

 specimens are to be found in most museums of any importance in that 

 country " [Whitaker, B. of Tunisia, 1905, vol. ii. p. 138). 



