Letters, Extracts, Notices, &^c. 623 



Mr. Thompson seems to liave succeeded in producing an ex- 

 cellent memoir on the birds of Manitoba — a district concern- 

 ing which our previous knowledge of its ornithology was but 

 fragmentary. After describing the physical features of the 

 country, which are further illustrated by a convenient map, 

 the author takes the 266 species as yet known to belong to 

 its avifauna in the systematic order of the A. O. U. List, and 

 gives us his notes on each of them. A list of the principal 

 authorities consulted and an alphabetical index of the species 

 are subjoined. The only thing that we miss is some sort of 

 a general account of the Manitoban avifauna, which would 

 certainly have been a convenient addition to the work. We 

 observe that the Passeres are 122 in number — rather less 

 than the usual amount in an ordinary avifauna. The occa- 

 sional occurrence of Milvulus forjicatus so far north as York 

 Factory, on Hudson's Bay, is a curious fact, which has, how- 

 ever, been previously recorded. 



113. Vorderman on the Birds of Billiton. 



[The Birds of Billiton. By A. G. Vorderman. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiii. 

 p. 121.] 



Herr Biittikofer translates and reprints from the Nat. 

 Tijdschr. v. Ned. Ind. (1890) a paper by A. G. Vorderman 

 -on the birds of Billiton, wliich lies between Sumatra, Java, 

 and Borneo. The island was visited in June 1888, and ex- 

 amples of 93 species (all known) were obtained or observed. 

 Of these 32 are not found in Java, 10 are not found in 

 Borneo, 8 are not known from Malacca, and 5 only not found 

 in Sumatra. Thus Billiton is most nearly allied in its orni- 

 thology to Sumatra. 



LIII. — Letters, Extracts^ Notices, S^c. 

 The following letters have been received, addressed to the 



Editor of ' The Ibis ' :— 



Binny, Upliall, Linlithgowshire, 

 April 29th, 1891. 



Sir, — At my ranclic in Montana, on Powder River, on 

 April 21st, 1890, about 2 p.m., I witnessed an extraordinary 



