Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 145 



The Agalega Islands. — We are not aware that the Agalega 

 Islands, which lie in the [ndian Ocean south of the Seychelles, 

 iu about 10° 50' S. lat. and 57° E. long., have ev:-r been 

 visited by an ornithologist, although they appear to have s^ome 

 claims to our attention. The islands are two in number. 

 The North Island is about five miles, and the South Island 

 about six miles in length, connected with each other by a 

 strip of sand. They are low, but well wooded with coconuts, 

 casuarinas, and other trees. 



According to a report on the islands addressed to the 

 Governor of Mauritius in 1893, the Agalegas "abound with 

 game : hares, Quails, Guinea-fowls, Peacocks, and wildfowls, 

 the Egyptian Ibis, Larks, Curlews, and various sea-birds. 

 A great source of supply for the inhabitants is the almost 

 inexhaustible amount of eggs of birds (Sea-GuUs) to be 

 gathered on a certain part of the North Island in September 

 and October every year. Acres of ground are covered with 

 eggs and birds. ''•' 



As we are also told that the climate of the Agalegas is 

 exceedingly healthy, the "temperature always cooled by 

 the sea-breeze,^' and, moreover, that "crime is unknown '^ 

 and order always prevails, we cannot do wrong in recom- 

 mending these islands to the notice of the wandering Members 

 of the B. O. U. 



SwaUow-Bluff in British Columbia. — In Mr. Warburton 

 Pike's lately-published ' Through the Subarctic Forest ' will 

 be found (p. 160) a good illustration of a nesting-place of 

 the North- American Cliff-Swallow [Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) , 

 situated on a bluff on the banks of the Pelly River. As 

 shown by Messrs. Sharpe and Wyatt in their Monograph 

 (ii. pp. 538, 539), this Swallow is abundant in many parts of 

 Alaska and British Columbia, 



The late Mr. Seebohm's Posthumous Works. — Messrs. Paw- 

 son and Brailsford, of Sheffield, announce as nearly ready 

 for publication the late Mr. Seebohm's ' Coloured Figures 

 of the Eggs of British Birds,' edited by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe. 



SER. VII. VOL. III. L 



