496 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



Aldershot, June lOtli, 1881. 



SiRSj — The museum of the late Marquis of Tweeddale has 

 contained for many years an example of a Pitta of the sub- 

 genus Hydrornis, which appears to be worthy of specific dis- 

 tinction. The locality given on the label in the late Marquises 

 handwriting is " Saigon, Cochin China -j" but M. Oustalet, 

 who kindly responded to a letter I wrote him on the subject 

 of this bird, expresses himself as very doubtful of the accu- 

 racy of the locality thus assigned to it, and is of opinion that 

 it is more likely to have come from the mountainous region of 

 the Malay peninsula. 



However, be this as it may, there seems to be no doubt 

 that the bird in question was obtained in some part of South- 

 east Asia ; and the mere fact of a species of this subgenus 

 occurring in those countries would of itself be interesting. 



This specimen may possibly prove to be an immature H. 

 nipalensis, from which it chiefly differs in being slightly 

 smaller and more slender in the tarsi; the head above is 

 strongly tinged with bluish green, which shades into dull blue 

 on a fairly well-defined nuchal patch. Another characteristic 

 of this bird, which is absent in the two known species, is that 

 many of the dorsal feathers are of a blue colour, as though 

 the bird had been in process of changing the colour of its 

 plumage at the time of its death. The under surface is also 

 very much paler than in any of my examples o^ H. nipalensis, 

 Hodgs., or H. oatesi, Hume. I propose for this species the 

 title of Pitta {Hydrornis) soror. 



Yours &c., 



R. Gr. Wardlaw-Bamsay. 



News of Consul Layard. — Our excellent correspondent. 

 Consul Layard, writes from Noumea on April 2nd that he is 

 collecting his notes for a general paper on the birds of New 

 Caledonia, where he has now recognized 136 species. " It 

 has been in hand some time ; but I have delayed it in hopes 

 of visiting the north of the island and great central moun- 

 tain-chain. I want to know personally what they contain. 



