Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 577 



light- coloured iris like a Whitethroat^s. Its alarm- note is 

 very close to that of Curruca cinerea and C. affinis when the 

 nest is approached : it is what I termed a " churring " sound 

 in ' Stray Feathers/ but which was misprinted " cheering/' 



Cettia and Horornis, united by Mr. Seebohm [op. cit. p. 1S3), 

 are very distinct genera, the one being aquatic and the other 

 not. Horeites is a small-sized Horornis. The eggs of Cettia 

 and Horornis are of similar colour, but so are those of the 

 Owls and the Doves. 



My Horeites pullidus Mr. Seebohm suppresses and unites 

 witii H. fortipes ; but I have very often seen and heard both 

 birds in life, and they are distinct species. Worse still, he 

 suppresses Mr. Hume's utterly distinct H. brunnescens, of 

 quite a distinct coloration and size, and which is not found 

 even in the same country. 



Yours &c., 



W. E. RiiooKs. 



Magdalene College, Cambridge, 

 6 August, 1889. 



Sir, — In reference to the alleged use by the nestling 

 Opisthocomus cristatus of its fore limbs as instruments of 

 progression [supra, p. 286), allow me to say that I have ob- 

 served the same thing in a very different kind of bird. 

 Some years ago there was brought to n^e a newly-hatched 

 Little Grebe {Podicipes fluviatilis) which could not have 

 been more than twelve hours old. When laid on a table 

 which was covered with a cloth, the bird not only crawled 

 about it, but crossed it completely from side to side, without, 

 indeed, actually sustaining its weight by its wings, but 

 dragging itself forward by their means quite as much as it 

 impelled itself by its legs. The resemblance of its actions 

 to those of a slowly-moving Reptile was very remarkable. 

 As I am not aware that any notice of this faculty of going 

 on " all fours " has been hitherto published, it may be worth 

 while drawing attention to the fact. 



Yours &c., 



Alfred Newton, 



