Letters, Extracts, Notices, §c. G37 



in drawers for future study ; also that 13 boucs of birds 

 from the Santa Cruz Formation in Patagonia have been pre- 

 sented by Mr. C. Arthur Pearson, and that some bones of 

 JEpyornis from caverns in Madagascar have been acquired. 



Return of the 'Valhalla.'— -The Earl of Crawford, F.E.S., 

 returned to the Solent in August last after a successful passage 

 round the world in the R.Y.S. ' Valhalla/ Mr. M. J. Nicoll, 

 M.B.O.U., avIio accompanied him as Naturalist, and whose 

 progress avc have already recorded [cf. supra, p. 4S6), has 

 made a collection of some 1500 specimens, which will be 

 arranged and determined at the British Museum. The birds, 

 with which Ave are immediately concerned, are about ^50 in 

 number, the short stays at the various halting-places having 

 somewhat interfered with this branch of the Collection ; but 

 series were obtained in the Magellan Straits, Valparaiso, the 

 Fiji Islands, and the Samoan Islands, besides the specimens 

 collected at sea, among which are sure to be found some of 

 considerable interest. We hope that Mr. Nicoll will be able 

 to give us an account of his adventures and observations 

 in this Journal. 



The Meeting of American Ornithologists in California. — 

 Both 'The Auk ' and 'The Condor/ in their lately issued 

 numbers, give accounts of the conjoint meeting in May last 

 of the " American Ornithologists' Union " and the " Cooper 

 Ornithological Club " in California, Avhich appears to have 

 been very Avell planned and successfully carried out. The 

 Eastern Members of the A. O. C. assembled at Chicago, and 

 left that city on May 3rd for San Francisco by the Santa 

 Fe route. Halts were made at Santa Fe, at Adamana, 

 and in the Little Colorado desert of Eastern Arizona, where 

 the wonderful petrified forests Avere inspected. A "side- 

 trip" of two days enabled the travellers to visit the Grand 

 Canyon of the Colorado, and halts were also arranged 

 at Hespcria (where the famous Yucca-trees Avere examined) 

 and Los Angelos, where a hospitable reception was tendered 

 to the party by the southern members of the Cooper Club. 

 The first meeting of the tA\o Societies A\as held at San 

 Francisco on May 13th in the hall of the Academy of 



