152 Letters, Extracts, Notices, S^-c. 



a new nest^ not more than eight inches high, the hen could 

 not thus sitj nor would even the highest nest allow of the 

 legs being extended while the bird sat upon it." 



The B.M. Catalogue of Birds.— The 12th volume of the 

 ' Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum ' is now nearly 

 ready for issue. It will contain the account of the Frin- 

 gillidse, and is by Mr. Sharpe, who will also prepare the next 

 (13th) volume, which will be devoted to the Ploceidse, 

 Sturnidse, Alaudidae, and other smaller groups, and conclude 

 the Oscines. Sclater has undertaken the 14th volume, which 

 will contain the Tyrannidse, Cotingidse, and all the other 

 Oligomyodiaa families, and has nearly finished his MS. on 

 this subject. Sclater will also catalogue the Tracheophonse, 

 which will fill the 15th volume. We are glad to hear that 

 Mr. Salvin has already commenced work on the Trochilid8e, 

 of which our National Collection possesses the unrivalled series 

 comprised in the Gould and Salvin-Godman collections. The 

 Trocliilidse will make up the 16th volume. 



Sale of a Great Auk's Egg. — At Mr. J. C. Stevens's Auction 

 Rooms, in King Street, Covent Garden, on the 13tli of De- 

 cember last, a large number of ornithologists assembled to 

 witness the sale of an egg of the Great Auk. Before offering 

 the lot, Mr. Stevens remarked that, in 1880, two eggs of this 

 bird, both of which had been broken, were sold by him, and 

 that they fetched 100 and 102 guineas respectively. Of the 

 recorded eggs, he said, 25 were in eighteen public museums, 

 and 41 in nineteen private collections — 43 out of the 66 being 

 in Great Britain. The first bid of 50 guineas Avas made by 

 a well-known ornithologist, and this was followed by 60 

 guineas from Mr. L. Field, to whom the egg was eventually 

 knocked down at 160 guineas. The egg is one of ten winch 

 were discovered by Professor Newton in a glass case in the 

 upper gallery of tlie inmost room of the Museum of the 

 College of Surgeons, in 1861 ; four of which were sold at 

 Stevens's on July llth, 1865, when this specimen (Lot 142) 

 fetched tliirtv guineas. 



