Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 389 



83'^ N.L.) we are told that he saw " a flock of not less than 

 one hundred Brent Geese feeding and sunning them- 

 selves.'^ In the same district, on June 20th, a Burgomaster 

 Gull was seen, and the cry of the Purple Sandpiper was 

 constantly heard ; the Snow-Bunting and Snowy Owl were 

 also met with and some Ptarmigan were shot for food. We 

 may take it tliat these six species are among those that range 

 farthest north in the Arctic summer. 



The Californian Condor. — The home-life of the " Cali- 

 fornian Condor" {Gymnogyps californicus) , which, as Ave have 

 lately been informed by some authorities, is a species now 

 verging towards extinction, has lately been closely investigated 

 by Mr. William L. Finley, who has published an account 

 of his experiences in this matter in the ' Century Magazine ' 

 for January last. In March 1906, accompanied by 

 Mr. P. Grindell (the present Editor, we believe, of ' The 

 Condor'), he penetrated into the highest ranges of the San- 

 Bernardino Mountains in Southern California " on the trail 

 of the Condor. '^ A nest was discovered with one egg, and 

 during several visits to it in a period of four months a long 

 series of photographs of the old birds and their growing 

 young one was obtained. The story of this exploit is well 

 told and the photographs are excellent. We commend this 

 paper to ornithologists, who may perhaps overlook the 

 appearance of it in the ' Century Magazine/ as well worthy 

 of notice. 



We may add that in 1866 "^ there was a fine example of 

 the Californian Vulture in the Zoological Society's Gardens, 

 where it lived for several years. 



A Marked European Stork in Rhodesia. — In ' The Field ' of 

 Jan. 25th, 1908 (p. 150), the following letter appeared: — " A 

 curious thing happened here last week. A Stork (Cico7iia 

 alha) was shot in the gardens of the native village near by. 

 It had a metal ring on one of its legs marked ' Vogelwarte, 

 Eossitten 163, Germania.' It was flying wild with others 

 when shot. It would be interesting to know whether this bird 



* See figure of Cathartes calif omiaiius, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 366. 

 SEll. IX. — VOL. II. 2e 



