498 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



who, we believe, are taking steps to complete the unfinished 

 portions. Mr. GoulcFs famous collection of Humming-birds, 

 together with his extensive collection of unmounted birdskins, 

 has, as already stated in our last issue, been purchased by 

 the Trustees of tlie British Museum for .£3000 ; and the Hum- 

 ming-birds are already exhibited in the bird-galleries of the 

 Museum. At present the specimens are not labelled; but we 

 are informed that the names will shortly be placed upon them, 

 and a ' Guide ' to the collection issued. 



Value of Ornithological Books. — It will be interesting to 

 some of our readers to learn the prices that some of the more 

 important ornithological works realized at the recent sale of 

 Mr. GoukVs Library. Complete set of ' The Ibis,' £50 ; 

 Hewitson's ' British Oology,' £6 Qs. ; Buller's 'Birds of New 

 Zealand,' £20 ; Jerdon's ' Illustrations of Indian Ornitho- 

 logy' (large-paper copy), £7\7s.QcL', Legge's 'Birds of 

 Ceylon,' £5 17^. Qd. ; Marshall's ' Capitonid^e,' £9 15*. ; 

 Rowley's ' Ornithological Miscellany,' £11 ; Dresser's ' Birds 

 of Europe,' £43 ; Sharpe's ' Monograph of the Alcedinidee,' 

 £9 55. ; Gray and Miehell's ' Genera of Birds,' £29 10 ; 

 Knip's ' Pigeons,' £6 155. ; Levaillant's ' Oiseaux d'Afrique,' 

 £16 55.; Malherbe's 'Monograph of the Picidge,' £24 IO5. 



The ' Birds of Neiv Zealand.' — We are pleased to learn 

 that Dr. Buller has in preparation a new and enlarged edition 

 of his ' Birds of New Zealand,' in which it is proposed to give 

 a separate coloured illustration of every species, with bota- 

 nical accessories characteristic of the country. It is Dr. 

 Buller's intention to come to England in order to superin- 

 tend himself the publication of this work. That there is 

 a demand for another edition may be safely inferred from the 

 fact that, although nearly three hundred copies were sub- 

 scribed for in New Zealand alone, a single copy of the book 

 has fetched as much as £20, at public auction, in the colony I 

 Where the popular love of science finds so tangible an ex- 

 pression, an author has little else to desire in the way of 

 encouragement. In the meantime the local demand will be 



