494 Letters, Extracts, Notices, b^c. 



a young bird. I believe it to be adult and to be a good 

 species. 



Yours &c., 



G. Hartliub. 



180 Stockwell Park Road, Brixton, S.W., 

 August 31st, 1888. 



Sirs, — The following notice of the capture of Siurus novebo- 

 racensis in lat. 47° 22' N., long. 18° 50' W., may interest some 

 of the readers of ' The Ibis/ as I believe it is the first time 

 the bird has been taken so near Europe. 



When returning from New Zealand in the sailing-ship 

 * Northumberland ^ in 1886, I noticed, on the morning of 

 August 26th, a small bird flying about the decks and settling 

 on the spars. As we were then off the Bay of Biscay, I took 

 our visitor to be a European Wo.rbler blown off the main- 

 land or the Azores, and not having much knowledge of the 

 Sylvicolidse, I did not take any particular interest in our 

 visitor, which during the day was pursued by cats and 

 steward's boys. On turning in, I was surprised to see a 

 small bird sitting on the rope which closes the shutters in 

 heavy weather, and catching it in my hand, I recognized it 

 as the one we had seen flying about during the day. Little 

 knowing what a good bird I had, I put it in a cardboard box 

 for the night, intending to give it its liberty in the morning, 

 but on opening the box found the bird had died during the 

 night, possibly of hunger, as on skinning it I found no trace 

 of food in the stomach. To those interested in migration, I 

 may add that the weather on August 26th was misty, with 

 squalls of rain and wind from W. to S.W. From the Meteo- 

 rological Reports extending over an area between lats. 4°-4 

 46° N., longs. 22°-40° W., from August 1st to date of capture, 

 I find the same sort of weather prevailed, with heavy gales of 

 wind on the north and west sides of the given area. 



It was not until this year, on looking over my skins, I 

 thought of ascertaining the name of my Warbler, and looked 

 through Gould's and many other works on the ' Birds of 

 Europe,' and not finding it mentioned, the idea of having 



