398 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^-c. 



birds as ascertained by dissectiou, four instances are given of 

 the remains of the Skunk having been found intlie stomachs 

 of birds of prey, the captors being, in one case^ Circus hud- 

 soniiis, in another Buteo lineatus, and in two others Bubo 

 virginianus. 



In the description of Geranoaetus melanoleucus, given at 

 p. 64_, it is stated that the " abdomen is white, faintly barred 

 across with grey/' and that the female is similar to the male, 

 but larger. It is^ however, worthy of remark that in very 

 old males the cross bars on the abdomen entirely disappear 

 excepting those of the under tail-coverts. Judging from such 

 specimens as I have seen, I believe that the fact of these 

 abdominal cross bars first becoming faint and then disappear- 

 ing is peculiar to the male sex, and that in the female these 

 bars continue strongly marked and are permanent ; in confir- 

 mation of which I may mention that a female specimen in 

 the Norwich Museum, in which the abdominal cross bars are 

 strongly marked, is known to have been more than six years 

 old when it died, it having lived for six years in the possession 

 of Mr. Edward Fountaine, of Easton, Norfolk. Mr. Fountaine 

 also now has another similar living specimen, believed to be 

 a female, which retains the cross bars unaltered, after eleven 

 years' confinement in his aviary. 



I am &c., 



J. H. GURNEY. 



Keswick, Norwich, 



March 9, 1889. 



Sir, — It may be worth placing on record that a Green- 

 backed Porphyrio [Porphyrio smaragdonotus) which had lived 

 at Northrepps nearly 18 years, and Was possibly some years 

 older than that, as it was in adult plumage when received, 

 died on March 4th. Another individual of the same species 

 which came to us along wdth it was 14 years old, if not more, 

 when it died. 



I attribute the longevity of these birds to their having been 

 kept in a large movable cage which enabled them to be shifted 



