Letters, Extracts, Announcements, ^t. 171 



I find, liowever, that the error has gone further, and that 

 Mr. Ramsay, in the first volume of the ' Proceedings of the 

 Linneau Society of New South Wales,' p. 65, has perpetuated 

 it, by describing this bird as a new species ! It is a pity that, 

 before "rushing into print,'' Mr. Ramsay had not consulted 

 me, knowing, as he did, that I had been working so long at 

 the Fijian oruis. 



The same sort of error seems to have occurred in the 

 Merula from the same locality, which I pointed out and 

 labelled as Merula bicolor, Layard, having expressly sent Pierce 

 to Kandavu to procure it for Mr. Ramsay, but which the latter, 

 ignoring my label and information, has renamed M. ruficeps, 

 P. L. S. N. S. W. vol. i. p. 43. In the same paper Vitia 

 ruficapilla, Ramsay, is described. This I also labelled as 

 having been sent home to Dr. Finsch, who was then describing 

 it in Europe under the name of Drymochera badiceps. 



E. L. Layard. 

 Noumea, June 25th, 1880. 



Sirs, — We have to chronicle two bits of ornithological in- 

 formation that may be deemed not unworthy the pages of 

 ' The Ibis.' 



First, four specimens of that very rare bird Campephaga 

 analis, Verr. et Des Murs (Revue Zoologique, 1860), have 

 been purchased in the market ; and one has been presented 

 to me by my liberal friend M. Saves, in the flesh. 



Messieurs Verreaux and Des Murs had only one example, 

 a young bird, before them when they described the species. 

 M. Marie, although he includes it in his list [cf. Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 362), never saw it, as appears from the omission of the (*), 

 which, he says, in his paper published in the 'Actes de la 

 Societe Linneenne de Bourdeaux,' t. xxvii. 1870, he aflixed 

 to all the species which passed through his hands. We have 

 been here over four years ; and these are the first specimens 

 we have seen. We therefore look on it as one of our rarest 

 species. 



Our specimen is a ? ; but the sexes are undistinguishable 

 in colour. It measures in the flesh 11 inches, wing 5 ••116, 



