Letter Si Extracts, Notes, ^c. 195 



make the authenticated species and subspecies 213 in 

 number, besides which there are 44 " doubtful and erro- 

 neous '' and 2 extinct (the Great Auk and the Labrador 

 Duck). The Shore- Lark of Labrador was found to be an 

 " abundant summer resident along the coast, breeding 

 "wherever there is barren ground. '^ It is referred to typical 

 Otocorys alpestrls, though other authorities have recorded 

 the Labrador form as O. a. praticola. A single example oE 

 the Turkey - Vulture {Cathartes aura) was obtained in 

 Labrador in November 1906. 



VIII. — Letters, Extracts, Notes, ^c. 



We have received the following letters addressed " To the 

 Editors of -The Ibis'":— 



Sirs, — In the number of ' Tlie Ibis ' for July last (p. 378), 

 Mr. Scott B. AViison, among the results of his collecting- 

 trip to the Eastern Pacific, announces the discovery of an 

 interesting new Parrakeet of the genus Coiiphiius (C cya- 

 neus). On examining his description and Mr. Erohawk's 

 figure of the supposed new species, I am of opinion that 

 what has taken place is simply a re.iamuig of the Psittacus 

 cyaneus of Sparrman (Mus. Carlss. vol. ii. pi. 27), a name 

 relegated long since to the synonyms of Coriphilus taitianus 

 (Gm.). This conclusion is corroborated by the statements 

 of both authors, whicii shew the entire absence of any white 

 markings, as well as the dark colouring of the iris, bill, and 

 feet, which in C. taitianus are, like the iris, red. Sparrman 

 describes the bill as "pallidum, apice fuscurn," but it may 

 be supposed that such a colouring had originated in the well- 

 known way from the desiccation of the corneous stratum. 

 We know of specimens belonging to this species the under- 

 parts of which are red, while the white colour in the plumage 

 is wanting or is confined to the throat. The first stage is 

 shown by "La Perruche Sparrman" of Levaillant (Hist. 

 Nat. Perr. vol. i. p. 128, pi. ()G), the latter by the figure which 

 Messrs. Forbes and Robinson give of a variety of C. taitianus 

 (Bull. Liverpool Mus. vol. i. p. 6, pi. 2). Kuhl (Consp. 



