130 Letters, Extracts, Notices, §c. 



Croft House, Holy wood, 



Co. Down, 

 December 1, 1889. 



Sir, — Allow me to record in your pages the recent occur- 

 rences in this and the adjoining county of several examples 

 of the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major), 

 generally quite a rare bird in the north of Ireland. One was 

 shot near Newry on or about 23rd October; a second was 

 shot and two others seen near Gilfoi'd on 4th November ; 

 and about the same time another was shot near Donaghadee — 

 all three places in this county ; while on 29th November a 

 fourth specimen was shot at Glenarm, co. Antrim. 



Yours &c, 



It. Lloyd Patterson. 



Extract from a Letter from Count Salvadori. — Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant (Ibis, 1889, p. 449) states that my Turnix beccarii 

 (Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. vii. p. 675) " from Celebes appears to be 

 absolutely identical with T. rufescens, Wallace.''' Later on 

 (op. cit. p. 465) he is not so certain, and says that T. ru- 

 fescens from the island of Semao will " probably prove to be 

 identical with T. beccarii from Celebes." But as Semao 

 belongs to the Timor group, a different subregion from that 

 of Celebes, where the land-birds are mostly peculiar to the 

 island, I think that Mr. Grant should have given the same 

 indulgence to my species as he has to T. rufescens (kept 

 distinct from T. saturata and T. maculosa), and should have 

 allowed that, judging from the locality, it may prove to be 

 different. The two type specimens of T. beccarii are in the 

 Museum of Genoa, and may easily be obtained from the 

 Director for comparison, if Mr. Grant wishes to settle the 

 question. 



Note on Spodiopsar fuscogularis. — With reference to Mr, 

 Sharpens remarks on Spodiopsar fuscogularis (Ibis, 1889, 

 p. 580), Count Salvadori writes to say that he has washed the 

 throat of the typical specimen very carefully, but that it 

 remains unchanged, and the dark colour is still there. Besides, 



