150 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 



It proved upon dissection to he a femalC;, and the retention 

 of some delicate bars upon the lower breast seems to indicate 

 that it is a bird of the year. The irides were dark hazel, legs 

 and bill black. Total length 6'5 in., wing 3| in. The 

 stomach was empty. 



The Isabelline Wheatear is most readily distinguished from 

 Saxicola oenanthe by its white under wing-coverts and by the 

 greater extent of the black upon the rectrices. 



The Isabelline Wheatear is new to Western Europe. Its 

 range eastward and southward is extensive, including Somali- 

 land and Nubia, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, the Cau- 

 casus, Afghanistan, and the N.W. Provinces of India ; in 

 Russia, Mr. Seebohm received eggs of this Chat from Sarepta ; 

 he has also two skins from Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. It visits 

 the region of Lake Baikal on migration, breeds commonly in 

 Daiiria, and was obtained by Pl^re David in the neighbour- 

 hood of Pekin. It has been recorded from Madagascar. 



Yours &c., 



H. A. Macpherson. 



The Turati Collection. — The collection of birds formed by 

 the late Count Ercole Turati is now in the Museo Civico of 

 Milan, where it occupies the uppermost story, and is not 

 very conveniently lodged. It contains 20,618 specimens, 

 nearly the whole of which are mounted. Amongst them are 

 the whole of the Malherbe collection of Picidse and the 

 Verreaux collection of Trochilidae, also examples of such 

 rarities as Nestor productus, Serresius galeatus, Bourcieria 

 traviesi, and Alca impennis. Although the specimens are in 

 excellent order, much more space is required for their proper 

 exhibition, and we accordingly learn with pleasure that the 

 Milanese authorities contemplate the erection of a new 

 building for the Museo Civico in another part of the Public 

 Garden. 



The Br ceding -habits of Flamingoes. — Mr. H. A. Blake, 

 late Governor of the Bahamas, has contributed to the 

 December number of the ' Nineteenth Century ' a very in- 



