Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 351 



for the compilation of an Avifauna of this State, though 

 most of its birds are, doubtless, also found in Argentina. 



The joint Committee of the Royal Society and the British 

 Association for investigating the Zoology of the Sandwich 

 Islands have selected Mr. Robert C. L. Perkins, B.A., of 

 Jesus College, Oxford, as Naturalist and Collector, from 

 amongst several candidates for the post. Mr. Perkins has, 

 we believe, already left England for Honolulu, in order to 

 proceed with his researches on the Fauna of the Sandwich 

 Islands. As regards the Birds, Mr. Scott Wilson's work, 

 now in course of publicati(m, will bring this subject up to 

 the level of our present knowledge. But even here there are 

 still many obscure points to be made out, which Mr. Perkins 

 will do well to investigate, and in the less known islands 

 a diligent search will probably result in the discovery of 

 some more new species. 



Note on Calliste margarethse. — Mr. Allen has most kindly 

 allowed me to acquire by exchange from the American Mu- 

 seum four examples of his newly described Calliste marga- 

 rethoi (Bull. A. M. N. H. iii. p. 351) from Chapada, Matto 

 Grosso. I acknowledge the distinctness of this form, but 

 wish to point out that, judging from the locality, it is pro- 

 bably the same as the Linda bello of Azara (Apunt. i. p. 387), 

 upon which Vieillot founded his Tanagra formosa. Vieillot's 

 name has hitherto been usually referred to Calliste flava 

 {of. Cat. Birds, xi. p. 113). Before deciding this question 

 definitely, however, it would be better to have specimens 

 from Paraguay for comparison. I propose to add my 

 specimens of Calliste margaretha to the series in the British 

 Museum. — P. L. S. 



Great Crested Grebe breeding in India. — In the last number 

 of the ' Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society ' 

 (vol. vi. no. 4, p. 501) Mr. H. Bulkley records a case of 

 Podiceps cristatus breeding on a tank near Kharaghora in 

 August 1890. 



