134 Messrs. E. L. and E. L, C. Layard on the Avifauna 



stuffing is not equal to his generosity ! we will report fur- 

 ther on this point when we have the luck to obtain a fresh 

 specimen. The one in question was brought into town and 

 sold on the market for '' gibier ! " The legs and feet appear 

 to have been yellow-brown ; the soles of the latter are yellow 

 even now ; claws brown. The bill is rightly described. Mr. 

 Saves says the irides were yellow. Sex male. 



Falco melanogenys, Gould. 



This noble Falcon appears to be not uncommon here. 

 L. L. obtained a fine $ close to Noumea in April last; and 

 M. Saves has also procured it. L. L.^s specimen had made 

 free with a neighbour's poultry^ tlie remains of which were 

 in her throat when killed. This HaAvk extends also to the 

 New Hebrides. We have received a fine specimen in alcohol, 

 shot on Vate by Mr. Glisson. 



SULA PISCATOR (LiuU.). 



Several of these Gannets were driven ashore by the hur- 

 ricanes, and picked up on the beach exhausted. They were 

 purchased and eaten by some of the French " colons " as a 

 rare kind of " Duck ! " " There is no accounting for taste ! " 



Sternula placens, Gould, Ann. N. H. scr. 4, vol. viii. 

 p. 192 (1871). 



Some time since Mr. Masters, the gentleman in charge 

 of the Macleayan Museum in Sydney, called our attention 

 to specimens of a Stei'mda which he had formerly identified 

 with S. nereis of Gould, stating they were distinct, and 

 probably that called S. placens by the same author. 



While visiting Sydney lately, E. L. L. compared specimens 

 procured by L. L. on the islands of Ansevata with the plate 

 recently published by Mr. Gould ■^, and showed them to Mr. 

 Masters. 



Our birds show very distinctly the black tip to the bill 

 described, as if the point had been dipt in the ink-pot ! but 

 diff"er somewhat in the marking of the head, the black ex- 

 tending from the black cap in front of the eye, not reaching 

 as far as the nostrils (as figured). Mr. Masters had never 



* Birds of New Guinea, pt. iii. (1876). 



