166 Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 



name) was strolling along the shores of the lake, his dog 

 bounded into the low serub and came out again bearing a 

 Notornis, having killed the bird with a sharp nip on the 

 breast. As a specimen it was quite unharmed, and the 

 skeleton (as well as the skin) has been carefully preserved. 

 The incident has excited great interest in the colony, and 

 Dr. Young of Invercargill, who has the custody of the bird, 

 lias received many offers for it. A day or two after the 

 capture he was offered a hundred guineas for it ; then an offer 

 of two hundred guineas was cabled from London ; following 

 close upon this was an offer of j8250, and finally a local 

 offer of i6300. The owners have decided not to sell at 

 present, and if hereafter they should part with it the sale 

 will be conditional on its not leaving the colony. A question 

 was asked about it in the local Parliament, and the Premier 

 announced that he was prepared to acquire it for the public. 

 There is every probability, therefore, of the Colonial 

 ]\luseum becoming its final resting-place. — W. L. Bullek. 



Proposed Memorial to Macgillivray. — A Committee has 

 been formed with the worthy object of erecting a Memorial 

 at the grave of the well-kuown ornithologist William Mac- 

 gillivray, formei'ly Professor of Natural History in Marischal 

 College, Aberdeen, whose burial-place in New Calton Bury- 

 ing Ground, Edinburgh, is at present " not marked even by 

 an ordinary tombstone." It is also proposed to found 

 a '' Macgillivray Gold Medal" in the University of Aber- 

 deen as a prize for students in Natural History. For these 

 purposes it is estimated that a sum of £250 would be 

 sufficient. The Secretary and Treasurer of the Committee 

 is the Rev. Dr. Farquharson, Selkirk, N.B., to whom sub- 

 scriptions may be sent, and from whom further particulars 

 may be obtained. 



The Generic Name of the Snoiv -Bunting. — In order to please 

 the advocates of stern priority, the generic name of the 

 Snow-Bunting has been recently changed from Plectrophanes 

 to Plectrophenax, because it has been shown by Dr. Stejneger 



