Letters, Announcements, ^c. 439 



inches in length, and with wings of 21*5. I have four speci- 

 mens of this bird, old and young, and name it Milvus major. 

 Besides differing somewhat in plumage, and vastly in size, its 

 haunts and habits are different from those of the common M. 

 govinda. The third is a fine Scops-Owl, as large as Ephialtes 

 lettia (Hodgs.), but feathered as far as, and sometimes even 

 halfway down, the terminal joint of the toes. I have called 

 this Ephialtes plumipes. It is very distinct from any of our 

 other Indian birds belonjiing to this group. 



Yours truly, 



Allan Hume. 



Sir, — As not much seems to be known in England of the 

 nidification and habits of the Flamingo in the south of France*, 

 I am in hope that the following notes may be of interest to your 

 readers. 



On my return this spring from Cannes, I went to Ai-les, to ob- 

 tain some information on the subject. There I found a friend, 

 whose acquaintance I had formerly made, ill with the gout; but 

 he did more for me from his chair than he had ever done when 

 able to walk. I began by going to the Museum, the existence 

 of which I now learnt for the first time, and I got in with the 

 assistance of a letter from my friend. The room had been 

 locked up some months — perhaps years ago, as the room next 

 it, a sort of vestibule, was wanted for the fire-engine ! I found 

 the ruins of an interesting local collection, the usual quantity of 

 monkeys, Birds-of-paradise, and so 'forth. There is a female 

 beaver, with two young, from the Rhone, and three Flamingos, 

 with an egg. Then I hunted up the Director, a quaint little 

 old man, who began by showing me his fig-tree, then played a 

 tune on an organ of his own making, and at last condescended 

 to talk about Flamingos. To his other vocations he had once 

 added that of a bird-stuffer. His information came to this, that, 

 as far as the birds went, they could be got easily enough, but 

 that the eggs were a far more difficult matter. 



I then went back to my friend, who said he thought it quite 



* Cf. Crespon, ' Ornitliologie du Gard,' pp. 395, 396. 



