Letters, Eoetrads, Notices, ^-c. 449 



Sir, — May I cb'aw attention to a curious error in Dr. R. 

 Bowdler Sharpens excellent Catalogue of the Alcedinidae 

 (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vol. xvii.) ? I observe that, by an unhappy 

 oversight, the two species of Si/ ma (pp. 196-198) are confused. 

 Under Syma torotoro I find the description of S.fiavirostris, 

 though the synonymy and habitat are those of S. torotoro. 

 As to S. flavirostris the case is the reverse. Even in the 

 " Key to the Species " the two names are transposed. 



I am, Sir, 



Yours &c., 



Knud Andersen. 



Korsgade 56, Kjobenhavn, 

 April 13, 1894. 



Sir,— In 'The Ibis' for 1893 (p. 3G1) there appeared a 

 very interesting article, contributed by Mr. W. P. Pycraft, on 

 the mechanism of the upper mandible of some of the Scolo- 

 pacid(£, and particularly describing the observations made by 

 him upon the Dunlin [Tringa alpina). The bird in question 

 was seen to open its bill at the distal extremity, while the 

 rest of the bill remained closed, this observation being made 

 after the bird had been wounded. 



Later on ' The Ibis ' (p. 563) contained a letter from 

 Dr. R. W. Shufeldt relating to an article in ' Forest and 

 Stream' (vol. xxxv. p. 412, 1890) written by Mr. Gurden 

 Trumbull of Hartford, Conn., in which he very accurately 

 described the act of the opening of the extremity of the bill 

 as performed by a Woodcock [Philokela minor) which he had 

 in captivity. 



In the summer of 1889 I spent seven weeks on the Mag- 

 dalene Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, collecting Limi- 

 coloe. While shooting on the long beaches which connect 

 two of the largest islands of the group, I captured a number 

 of Hudsonian Godwits {Limusa hcemastica) , and discov^ered 

 that, by a certain movement or pressure of the head of the 

 bird, I could cause the extremity of the bill to open without 

 opening the remainder of the bill. Further, I found that it 

 was the movement of the upper mandible which caused the 



