Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 143 



30. Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen's ' Ornithologischer Jahrbuch .' 



[Ornithologisclier Jahrbuch. Organ far das palsearktische Fauuengebiet . 

 Herausgegeben von Victor Ritter von Tschusi zu Schmidhoffen. Band I. 

 Hefte 5-9, 1880.] 



We have now received parts 5 to 9 inclusive of this new 

 ornithological journal; the inception of which has been 

 already spoken of (c/. Ibis, 1890, p. 461) . They contain 

 many papers of general interest, amongst which we may call 

 attention to Herr Reiter^s discovery of three species new to the 

 avifauna of Bosnia {Accipiter brevipes, Phileremos penicillata, 

 and Anas marmorata) . Dr. Carl BoUe contributes an article 

 " In the Shadow of the Peak of TeneriflFe,^^ which is based, 

 we suppose, on old reminiscences ; and Herr Leverkiihn 

 writes on the ancient Avifauna of Pomerania. 



XVII. — Letters, Extracts, Notices, H^c. 



The following letters have been addressed to the Editor 

 of ' The Ibis ' :— 



Sir,— In your last issue of 'The Ibis' (1890, p. 359) 

 appears a very interesting account of the habits of the Blue- 

 billed Duck [Erismatura ferruginea) of Buenos Ayres, by 

 Mr. J. Graham Kerr, and the fact of their being similar 

 to those of our Australian representative^ E. australis, 

 may perhaps be w^orthy of being placed on record in your 

 Journal. 



As I have stated^ the habits of this Duck observed by me 

 here^ during the winter and spring of last year (1889), are 

 identical with the Buenos-Ayres species, even to the peculiar 

 manner of courtship adopted by the male bird, so amusingly 

 described by Mr. Kerr, and its then strong resemblance to 

 an Ornithorhynchus , also as regards the difficulty and, as it 

 proved in my case, impossibility of shooting these birds, 

 owing to their extraordinary powers of instantaneous diving. 



Hitherto Western Australia has always — ^if I do not mis- 

 take — been regarded as the exclusive habitat of this bird ; 

 but that it does occasionally, though it would seem very 



