1918-] Letters, Extracts, and Nutes. 173 



Tlie suggestion whicli I used the Gulls to illustrate, 

 together with the arguments generally or the section in 

 which it occurred, were merely intended to suggest that 

 the actual existence of variability in eggs was not incom- 

 patible with the possible presence of a factor, the tendency 

 of which would be to make for uniformity. Several of them, 

 together with tiie necessity for them, would fall to the ground 

 should it be shown that preference is rare in egg-eaters. 

 If, on the other hand, it is common, they would require to 

 be taken into consideration. 



Yours truly, 

 Gungunyama, C. F. M. SwYNNEKTO.V. 



S. Rhodesia, 

 l.:5 July, 1017. 



Ornithology of Malta. 



Sir, — In the second part of Mr. (x. Despott's interesting 

 and valuable paper on the Ornithology of Malta, some 

 evidence is quoted under the heading of Fatco peregrinus 

 peregrinus of the breeding of this bird in the Maltese group 

 (p. 474). That the Continental race of the Peregrine visits 

 Malta (luring the winter months is an admitted fact, but it 

 is much more probable (and is practically certain) that the 

 breeding stock belong to the smaller Mediterranean race, 

 F. peregrinus bruokei, which is known to breed in Corsica, 

 Elba, Sardinia and many other of the Mediterranean islands. 

 On the other hand, on p. 475, for F. peregrinus pele- 

 grinoides read F. p. broukei, the former subspecies being 

 the resident form in northern Africa, north of the Sahara. 

 I would also add that the Maltese Jackdaw is Culceus mone- 

 dula spermologus, according to the nomenclature of Hartert's 

 Vog. pal. Fauna which is followed elsewhere in the paper, 

 the name C. monedula monedula being restricted to the 

 Scandinavian form. 



The Shag reported by Sergeant Mackay (p. 499) must 

 have belonged to the Mediterranean race, P. gracvlus 

 desmaresti, rather than to the form inhabiting the North 

 Atlantic and the North Sea, P. gracu/us graculus. It is 



