48 Short Xolices of OrnitJwlogical PuJ ill cat Ions. 



2. " Notes on the Red-tailed Bush-Lark (Mirafra erythro- 



pi/r/ia).'^ By A. L. Butler, Supt. Game-Preservation, 

 Sudan. 

 This is a good account of a little-known species, and 

 describes the plumage-variations of the bird. 



3. "On the Tail-feathers of the Grebes." By W. P. 



Pycnift, P.Z.S. 

 In this paper — another of Mr. Pycraft's valuable additions 

 to the anatomy of the bird-world — the Author shows that, 

 although by most writers described as non-existent, these 

 birds do possess a tail, rudimentary no doubt, but " tail- 

 feathers " all the same are definitely present. 



From the account of the Annual Meeting of the B. 0. U. 

 for 11)07 (presided over by Dr. F. Du Cane Godman, F.R.S.), 

 we notice that the Union numbered 402 Ordinary, 2 Extra- 

 Ordinary, 9 Honorary, 5 Colonial, and 20 Foreign Members. 

 22 Ordinary Members were elected. Mr. C. F. M. Swynner- 

 ton, of Gungunyana, Melsetter, S. Rhodesia, was elected a 

 " Colonial Member.^' We offer our hearty congratulations 

 to this gentleman, who is now a member of the S.A.O.U. 



It is proposed to hold a "re-union" meeting of the B.O.U. 

 at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in November 1908, in 

 Commemoration of the Jubilee of the Union, the Society 

 having been founded in the same place in November 1858. 



II. Manchester Memoirs, vol. li. (1907) No. 10, contains a 

 very interesting article by S. A. Neave, M.A., B.Sc, " On a 

 Collection of Birds from North-east Rhodesia." Tliis paper 

 refers to 217 species collected by the author, as naturalist to 

 the Geodetic Survey, during the years 1904 and 1905 in 

 North-east Rhodesia. Amongst the locality records of 

 special interest to us we extract the following : — Pterocles 

 hicinctus from Petauke and the banks of the Loangwa ; 

 lihinoptilus seebohmi (Loangwa Valley) ; Ciconia nigra (Nia- 

 madji River, Loangwa Valley) ; Nycticorax leuconotus 

 (Loangwa Bank) ; Erythrocnus I'ujiventris (E. bank of 



