Letters, Announcements, S^c. 225 



who has so many advantages over me^ as well as the posses- 

 sion of the letter c in his name, that he might not altogether 

 be flattered by the mistake. 



Yours &c., 



Henry H. Slater. 



Wilton House, Farnliam, 

 March 3, 1883. 



Sirs, — It may be of interest, with regard to the nidifica- 

 tion of Balearica chrysopelargus (Licht.) = B. regulorum 

 anct., to record that my friend Lieut. Giffard, of the Welsh 

 Regiment (41st), recently shot in Natal an old bird of this 

 species off a nest containing two bluish-white eggs without 

 spots. 



Some authors have stated that the eggs are spotted; but 

 the balance of testimony appears now to be in favour of the 

 absence of spots. 



Wliile on the subject of the eggs of South- African Cranes, 

 I would beg to call attention to the notes of Majors Butler 

 and Feilden and myself on the nesting of Grus paradisea 

 (Licht.), published in our paper on the Birds of Natal in 

 the 'Zoologist' for September 1882, and to express a hope 

 that the interesting theory therein advanced — that the eggs 

 of this species are deposited, like those of a Bustard, in a 

 depression scratched on the open " veldt " or grassland, and 

 not in marshes — may be investigated by one or more of the 

 ornithologists whose labours may extend to its breeding- 

 haunts in Natal, the Transvaal, &c. 

 Yours &c., 



Savile G. IIeid, Capt. R.E. 



Zihawei, pres Shang-hai, 

 20 Janvier, 1883. 



Messieurs, — Vous serez peut-etre content d'apprendre que 

 j'ai un nouveau Pucrasia. Je me propose de la publier sous 

 le nom de P.joretiana. II diflere des Pucrasice decrits en ce 

 qu'il n'a pas de brun ni de roux dans le plumage, soit an ecu 



