Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 631 



to be considered as on a par with species, which some of our 

 friends of the " new school " seem to forget. 



The last memoir issued on the Birds of the Galapagos is 

 that of Messrs. Rothschild and Hartert (Nov. Zool. vi. p. 85, 

 1899), based on the collection of the Webster- Harris 

 Expedition, in which will be found (p. 135) a list of the 

 previously published articles on the subject and a complete 

 discussion of it. The present paper does not materially 

 increase our general knowledge of the Galapagan Avifauna, 

 It adds, however, at least three species to the list {Lams 

 franklini, of which a single specimen was obtained, and 

 two new forms, denominated Geospiza heliobates and 

 Nesoniimus melanotis dierythrus) , and contains an exact and 

 methodical account of the specimens obtained by the 

 Expedition, with a full commentary on them. No change 

 is suggested in the general situation, and it remains as certain 

 as ever that (as shown by Darwin, Wallace, and other 

 leading authorities) the Galapagos afford us an excellent 

 example of a group of Oceanic Islands peopled by accidental 

 migration. 



XXXIY. — Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



The following letters, addressed to the Editors, have been 

 received : — 



Sirs, — The following legend is not without a poetical 

 strain, and will interest, I am sure, not only ornithologists, 

 but other lovers of nature. It was communicated (in the 

 Dutch language) by Mr. J. A. Kroesen to the Proceedings 

 ('^ Notulen ") of the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences 

 for 1903 (pp. liii-lv). 



In the different districts of Kapaur, in the south-western 

 part of Dutch New Guinea south of Maccluer Gulf, the 

 hunting of Birds of Paradise is interdicted, because of 

 the birds being considered by the Papuans as '•' pajuali," 

 i. e. " tabooed.^^ The natives look upon them not as birds 



SER. IX. VOL. II. 2 X 



