Letters, Extracts, Announcements, ^c. 1 73 



eggs of the "Whale-bird^' show it to be some species of 

 Tern. 



Additional specimens of a small form of Platycercus pen- 

 nanti of Norfolk Island have also been sent. They confirm 

 the opinion which we had previously entertained of the neces- 

 sity of distinguishing this local race by a name which at once 

 fixes the habitat^". 



E. L. & E. L. C. Layard. 



Sirs, — The following particulars relative to the breeding 

 of the Flamingo [Phcenicopterus antiquorum) in the Lake of 

 Tunis, in 1880, may interest your readers. 



On the 3rd of May, as nearly as I can recollect, I started 

 at 12.30 A M., with Giuseppe and Victor Emmanuele, two 

 Sicilian cacciatori, for the island of Chikli, in the Lake of 

 Tunis. Here we anchored the felucca for a short time, and 

 proceeded to stalk some Flamingos which were sleeping in 

 the shallow pools with which the island abounds. Though I 

 was told they bred here, I failed to find any nests, though the 

 eyries of Storks, Herons, and Cormorants abounded. After 

 varying sport, we quitted the island about 4 a.m., when it 

 was getting light. Giuseppe steered the boat to the southern 

 or right-hand side of the lake. In the marshes skirting the 

 shore he informed me I should find many Flamingos breed- 

 ing. The Esparto grass grew abundantly in certain spots ; 

 and about these numbers of Flamingos were standing. We . 

 were not able to land, on account of the shallowness of the 

 water, and the thick and viscous mud, out of which, if a boat 

 once gets stranded, it is difilcult to float her. At length there 

 was an opening in the reeds, and Giuseppe, directing my at- 

 tention to an islet of mud, told me there were two Flamingos 

 sitting. I took up my opera-glass and saw on two mounds, 

 some foot and a half high, two Flamingos sitting, ivith their 

 legs under them. Of this I am certain ; I could see the tarsi 

 protruding beyond the loose plumes of the wings, just as I 

 have seen in Flamingos in my possession, when they have 



* [Messrs. Layard have not yet sent us examples of this supposed new 

 species for comparison. — H. B. T.] 



