Letters, Announcements, ^c. 233 



decidedly Papuan, with a slight Timorese element, evidenced 

 by the occurrence of certain species of the genera Geocichla 

 and Erythrura; while the new Owl [Strix sororcula) was appa- 

 rently a diminitive form of a peculiar Australian species. Mr. 

 Forbes, at the date of his last letter, was intending to return 

 to Timor Laut to continue his investigations. 



Balseniceps in East Africa (?) . — Dr. Hartlaub has been told 

 by the well-known African traveller Dr. Pechuel Loesche, 

 who has just returned from the Congo, that he had there 

 made the acquaintance of Mr. H. H. Johnston (the painter 

 and naturalist, well known to many of us). Mr. Johnston 

 told him that on the Cunene, between Benguela and Angola, 

 Balaniceps rex was " quite a common bird.^^ Dr. Pechuel 

 Loesch added, that near Ambrez a bird was described to him 

 that could not be any thing else but Balaniceps, and that he 

 did not doubt that Mr. Johnston was correct. 



[We cannot say that we quite believe this to be correct. If 

 Balaniceps really occurs on the Cunene, it is most singular 

 tliat it should have escaped the knowledge of the energetic ex- 

 plorer Anchieta and the other Portuguese collectors. — Edd.] 



The Blue Magpies of Spain and Siberia. — In the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, there are now five examples 

 of the Blue Magpie of Spain {Cyanopica cooki) and two of 

 the Blue Magpie of Siberia (C cyanea) together in one cage, 

 thus affording an excellent opportunity of comparing toge- 

 ther these two so nearly allied species, which inhabit such 

 widely separated areas. 



Ross's Gull. — The U.S. National Museum has received 

 three (not very perfect) specimens of Bosses Gull {Rhodo- 

 stethia rossi) from Point Barrow, Alaska, and are advised of 

 the capture of three other specimens in perfect plumage. 



Lord Lilford writes from Seville (March 3rd) that the 

 Bustards {Otis tarda) which he was expecting to find in the 



