164 Letters, Extracts, Notices, 6fc. 



among the spiny growth of the Bunduri Piinpler [Drepano- 

 carpus lunatus), which the birds chiefly frequent. The 

 incident was the more curious in that the Hoatzin is never 

 seen on the ground or in the water^ and the nestlings cling 

 on so tightly and strongly to the branches and twigs, by 

 means of their feet, wings, and beak, that it is hardly 

 possible that they can ever fall off. Even when the attempt 

 is made to knock them down, it is by no means an easy 

 task among the closely-crowded and interlacing twigs and 

 branches. 



In ornithological cii'cles this matter seems to have excited 

 a considerable amount of interest, if not of doubt, and the 

 writer has taken steps on every possible occasion since, 

 wherever the nestlings were met with, to verify the incident, 

 the first time accompanied by Mr, C. A. Lloyd, with whose 

 name the readers of 'Tiraehri' are quite familiar. On every 

 occasion the experiment has had the same termination, nor has 

 it ever been possible, without special appliances, to secure the 

 little bird alive and uninjured after it has once been shaken 

 down into the dark water. The diving is rapid and clean, 

 and the distance dived often several yards, sometimes with 

 the current and sometimes against it. If left alone, the 

 little bird either floats on the water or hooks itself up on 

 to some twig, and perches like a Kingfisher, immediately 

 plunging ofl" like a Darter when closely approached. If the 

 water were clear, it would no doubt be easy to trace its 

 course and secure it as it rises, but under the conditions 

 where it lives the little creature is secure. 



That this power or habit is due to some instructive sur- 

 vival from an earlier mode of life in past ages of develop- 

 ment can hardly be doubted. — J. J. Quelch in ' Timehri,' 

 n. s. xii. p. 37 (1898). 



Sales of Gould's Bird-books. — The occasions on which an 

 original subscriber's copy of the complete set of John Gould's 

 ornithological works comes under the hammer are exceed- 

 ingly rare. Last week, however, says 'The Athenaeum,' 

 such a series occurred at the sale of the library of the late 



