Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 185 



graph ill the preface, yet it is continually being brought up 

 against me, for few people refer to errata or read prefaces ! 



An excellent ornithologist has recently expressed to me 

 his dissatisfaction with the term " Arctic " Skua for S. cre- 

 y'ldutus, because, he says, a bird which breeds in Scotland is 

 not Arctic. I should be glad of any better name (for 

 Richardson's Skua is unsatisfactory), but if a bird which 

 goes at least up to 82° N. lat. and probably further is not 

 Arctic, pray what is ? 



Yours &c., 



Howard Saunders. 



The Bird-Gallery in the British Museum. — No one inter- 

 ested in the progress of ornithology should omit to visit the 

 Bird-gallery in the British Museum and see the grand reform 

 that has been commenced there. The division appropriated 

 to the Woodpeckers has been cleared of all the numerous 

 uniformly mounted specimens which formerly crowded its 

 shelves, and now contains a small series of well-mounted 

 specimens selected to show the principal variations in this 

 family of birds. Examples of the giant Campophilus impe- 

 rialis and the minute Picumnus undulatus show the extreme 

 range, as regards size, in the Woodpeckers. Other speci- 

 mens represent the three subfamilies (Picinoe, Picumninse, 

 lyngiiije) in which these birds are arranged in Mr. Hargitt's 

 recently-published catalogue, and besides these many of the 

 leading genera are exemplified. Specimens of nests and eggs 

 show the mode of nidification of the Picidse, and diagrams 

 and special mounted parts point out the peculiarities that 

 distinguish the Woodpeckers from other birds and the various 

 groups of W^oodpeckers from each other. To every speci- 

 men is attached a small map to show the distribution of the 

 species. In short, we have before us a complete and instructive 

 epitome of the group, presented to us in an intelligible way, 

 instead of a mass of individual specimens from which it is 

 hardly possible to derive any instruction at all. 



On behalf of ornithologists generally, we venture to ex- 

 press a hope that this much-needed reform will be continued 



