48 Dr. O. Finsch's Ornithological Letters. 



having a median longitudinal baud of black, which renders the 

 specific term strigiceps very apposite. 



Mr. Darwin gives as the locality of this species Santa Fe, 

 on the Eio Parana. It is singular that in all the collections 

 from the Argentine Republic which I have examined of late 

 years, I have never met with an example of it, the only spe- 

 cimen I have seen being one in my own collection, which I 

 obtained in exchange from Mr. Gould some years ago, and 

 which is probably one of Mr. Darwin's original skins. This, 

 however, is most likely due to the fact that most of the Ar- 

 gentine collections have been procured from the vicinity of 

 Buenos Ayres, and that Santa Fe, as pointed out by Mr. 

 Darwin^, belongs to a different fauna. 



V. — Ornithological Letters from the Bremen Expedition to 

 JVestern Siberia. By Otto Finsch, Ph.D., Hon. Memb. 

 B.O.U., Chief of the Expedition. 



On board the steamer 'Beljetschenko,' 

 River ( )b, 3rd .Tuly, 1876. 



Sir, — I beg leave to send you a few notes relating to the 

 birds observed by us during our recent trip through Western 

 Siberia and into the northern parts of Turkestan and China. 

 Though we left Nishni- Novgorod on the 19th March, we 

 did not reach Omsk until the 20th of April, the roads being 

 in a bad state, OAving to the forwardness of the spring, and the 

 consequent melting of the snow. No opportunities oflered 

 for making any observations on the birds of the country passed 

 through, except as regards the few species seen on the road- 



* '' In the morning we arrived at Santa F^. I was surprised to observe 

 how great a change of climate a difference of only three degrees of lati- 

 tude between this place and Buenos Ayres had caused. This was evident 

 from the dress and complexion of the men, from the increased size of the 

 ombu trees — the number of new cacti and other plants, and especially 

 fi'om the birds. In the course of an hour I remarked half-a-dozen of the 

 latter which I had never seen at Buenos Ayres. Considering that there is 

 no natural boundary between the two places, and that the character of 

 the country is nearly similar, the difference was much greater than I 

 should have expected." — Narr. Voy. Beayle, iii. p. 147. 



