590 Letters, Extracts, Notices, i^c. 



The Collection of Birds at Gottingen. — The Natural-History 

 Museum of the University of Gottingen contains a good 

 general collection of birds formerly belonging to the late 

 Major Kirchhoff, a well-known German ornithologist resident 

 near Stuttgart. The specimens (about 3000 in number) are 

 very well mounted and correctly named and arranged. I had 

 the pleasure of inspecting them in June last under the kind 

 guidance of Prof. Ehlers. There are good examples of 

 Balaniceps rex from the White Nile {Brehm), of Nestor pro- 

 ductus of Norfolk Island (now extinct) ^ and of ^chmophorus 

 major from Chilis in full plumage, and many other note- 

 worthy specimens. — P. L, S. 



The Collection of Eggs of the late Herr IVm. Hollandt. — 

 According to a communication made by Dr. Wm. Blasius to 

 the ' Verein fiir Naturwissenschaft ' of Brunswick, the late 

 Rechtsanwalt Wilhelm Hollandt has bequeathed his valuable 

 collection of eggs to the Ducal Natural- History Museum of 

 Brunswick. The collection, originally commenced by the 

 acquisition of the Breitsclineider collection of German eggs 

 in 1879, is of a general character, and consists of upwards 

 of 10,000 specimens, referred to 2710 species, and classified 

 according to Gray's ' Hand-list.' There are full series of eggs 

 of many of the rarer species, and only 13 families out of the 

 116 adopted in the ' Hand-list' are unrepresented. 



Additions to the Bird-Collections of the British Museum. — 

 The Parliamentary Report of the British Museum for 1896 

 contains the following list of the principal additions made to 

 the Collection of Birds during the past year : — Two Little 

 Auks {Meryulus alle), from Sandringham ; presented by 

 H.B.H. The Prince of Wales. Two nestlings of Bewick^s 

 Swan [Cygnus bewicki), from Kolguev Island; presented by 

 Colonel Feilden. 247 birds and eggs from the Salvage 

 Islands, Madeira, and Porto Santo, containing examples of 

 many species of great interest ; presented by the Hon. Cecil 

 Baring and W. 11. Ogilvie Grant, Esq. A collection of 921 

 birds, with nests and eggs, from the Province of Rio de 



