150 Letters, Announcements, &^c. 



colour of red currants — a fact overlooked by some authors and 

 most taxidermists. We sought carefully for the nest of Elanus 

 cceruleus, having often met with the birds in pairs remaining the 

 whole day in certain rows of mimosa-trees which they would not 

 leave; and at length we were rewarded ; for on the 28th of March, 

 having seen a bird flying along a row of these trees, we walked 

 up to the spot and presently heard the cry of its mate, which we 

 thus discovered sitting on its nest, placed at the top of a young 

 mimosa about twenty feet from the ground. The nest contained 

 four eggs about the size of a KestreFs and varying considerably 

 in colour, some being as dark as Kestrels' while others show 

 much of the white ground between the blotches. While we were 

 blowing the eggs under the tree, the bird returned and sat in the 

 nest, repeating the cry which had at first called our attention 

 to it. 



On the 30tli of March, at Boosh, we found another nest of this 

 bird, situated on the end of a bough at the top of a high mimosa. 

 Owing to the difficulty in reaching it, we unfortunately broke the 

 four eggs it contained. They were hard sat-on, but in colour 

 exactly resembled the nestful we brought back from Egypt. 



I am, &:c., 



Ernest Shelley. 



6tli December, 1869. 

 Sir, — In his 'Birds of South Africa' Mr. Layard identifies 

 the sma llwhite- winged Heron of India, Ardea grayi, Sykes, with 

 his " no. 586," A. leucoptera, Bodd. I have not seen the South- 

 African specimens mentioned by Mr. Layard, but I have recently 

 had the opportunity of examining a small Heron of this group 

 obtained on the Zambesi by Dr. Kirk, and now preserved in the 

 Ley den Museum. Mr. Blyth, who happened to be with me at 

 the time, was so good as to assist me in comparing this specimen 

 with the large series of allied Herons, in which the Leydeu 

 collection is exceptionally rich, and we both came to the conclu- 

 sion that the Zambesi specimen is distinct from the Indian bird, 

 and is identical with the nearly allied but somewhat larger species 

 of Madagascar, A. idee, Harll. As this identification seems to 

 be an interesting one, 1 am desirous of putting it on record — cs- 



