Letters, Extracts, Notices, i)C. 161 



Ireland, one in Cambridgeshire, and one in Oxon. The last 

 mentioned also occurred fifteen days later in the autumn 

 than any of the others. Of the fifteen [i. e. leaving out the 

 Cambridgeshire bird), the exact date of the capture of which 

 is known, four have occurred in August, eight in September, 

 one in October, and two in November. 



Yours &c., 

 Bloxhara, Oxon, O. V. APLIN. 



30th November, 1898. 



The Bird- Collections of the British Museum. — We extract 

 from the Pai-liamentary Report on the British Museum for 

 1897-8, which was issued last autumn, the principal portions 

 relating to the National Collection of Birds. The report 

 informs us that the total number of additions to the group 

 of Aves in 1897-8 was 12,783, of which the following are 

 specially mentioned : — Twenty-two birds from the Shan 

 States, presented by Major Rippon, A skeleton of Pelecanus 

 crispus, presented by the Director of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew. A specimen of Peale's Peregrine Falcon 

 [Falco pealii) from the Aleutian Islands, and of the Sey- 

 chelles Scops 0'w\{Gi/mnoscops insular is), ivom. the Seychelles, 

 presented by Capt. Ashburnham, 60th Rifles. 35 skins and 

 eggs of birds from Spitsbergen, presented by A. Trevor- 

 Battye, Esq. Nests with pairs of birds of the following 

 species : — Diceeum cinereigulare, Eudrepanis pulcherrima, 

 and Rhipidura cyaniceps, from the Philippine Islands, 

 presented by John Whitehead, Esq. 25 Ducks and Geese 

 from Walcheren, Holland, presented by T. M. Pike and 

 W. L. Popham, Esqrs. 31 birds from Mozambique, pre- 

 sented by W. A. Churchill, Esq. 24 specimens of Esculent 

 Swifts {Collocalia), with their nests and eggs, presented by 

 C. Hose, Esq. Three Willow-Grouse from Unalaska, 

 presented by Prof, D'Arcy Thompson, C.B. Ten types of 

 new species from Uganda and Kikuyu, pi'esented by F. J. 

 Jackson, Esq., Assistant Commissioner of Uganda. Tn'o 

 specimens of Paramythia montium, De Vis, and a specimen 

 of Daphcenositta miranda^ De Vis, from South-eastern 



SER. VII. VOL. V. M 



