Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 545 



Sirs, — Would you allow me to correct an error which I 

 made in my notes on the Ground-Doves of the West Indies, 

 published in the January number of the 'Ibis' ? 



Under the heading Chamcepelia jamaicensis (p. Ill) I in- 

 cluded birds from St. Thomas Island as referable to this 

 form. ' 



This is certainlyj as might have been expected, incorrect, 

 and I have, in fact, feitice found that specimens from 

 St. Thomas are identical with the Puerto-Rican form C. 

 portoricensis, and have the same well-marked crimson base 

 to the bill. 



Under the heading of C. bahamensis (p. 112) I expressed 

 some doubt as to whether the birds of this form were or were 

 not " wholly and constantly black/' as originally described 

 by Mr. Maynard. I had the opportunity of shooting some of 

 these birds in April last, and found that there is a distinct 

 crimson cast at the base of the bill similar to specimens 

 from Cuba (C. axantha), so that these birds undoubtedly 

 belong to the crimson-billed race, and not to the black- 

 billed form of the Bermudas (C. bermudiana). In 

 describing C. pallescens, from Mexico, Mr. Ridgway states 

 that the bill is " often (always in fully adult males ?) red 

 basally/' 



I obtained a series of Chamcepelia this winter in Mexico, 

 and my experience is that in adult birds of both sexes the 

 base of the bill is invariably red, or rather crimson. 



Yours &c., 

 The Hatch, Windsor, Percy R. Lowe. 



June 19th, 1908. 



Proposed Prohibition to Import the Plumage and Skins of 

 Wild Birds. — All Ornithologists will rejoice to hear that Lord 

 Avebury's Bill to prohibit the importation of the skins and 

 plumage of Wild Birds was read a second time in the House 

 of Lords on May the 19th, and referred to a Select Com- 

 mittee. There is probably little chance of the Bill becoming 

 law this year, but it is a good piece of work to have got it 



