Letters, Announcements, &)C. 119 



They were sliot both together while the old bird was feeding 

 the youug one. I have also what I believe to be the young 

 P. affinis, with the spurious wing light yellow. 



Mr. Gould, in his ' Handbook to the Birds of Australia ' 

 (i. p. 162), has misunderstood what I have said in 'The Ibis^ 

 (1865, p. 298), and shifts my remarks on P. affinis from that 

 species to P. striatus, to which they do not apply. There are 

 two distinct forms of P. affinis — one with a yellow tip to the 

 spurious wing, and the other with a deep orange or red tip. 

 Both are usually common, but at some seasons one or the other 

 predominates in certain localities. As mentioned above, I have 

 got both old and young of the red-tipped form, and what I 

 believe to be the young of the other ; so that I have only to get 

 a yellow-tipped adult, with a nest, and the matter will be cleared 

 up. If the young of the yellow-tipped form have red on the 

 spurious wing, then it must of course be considered a mere 

 variety ; but if otherwise, surely a diffei'cnt species. 



Mr. Gould talks of P. striatus being the common Sydney 

 species. This it is not ; nor do I ever remember having even 

 heard of this bird being found near Sydney. P. affinis, in its 

 two forms, is found here. It breeds in holes of trees, and, as I 

 have before mentioned (Ibis, 1866, p. 126), also takes possession 

 of the old nests of the Fairy-Martin. In like manner P. striatus 

 was one year found by me breeding in the nests of the same 

 bird at Cardigan, on the Bell River. 



P. punctatus and P. melanocephalus breed in holes dug in 

 banks ; but on one or two occasions I have known them to breed 

 in holes in logs on the ground. 



I am &c. 



Edward P. Ramsay. 



South African Museum, Cape Town, 

 August 13, 1867. 

 Sir, — At this Ultima Thule, the arrival and departure of our 

 migratory birds has always seemed to me to possess peculiar 

 interest. I have endeavoured to note their dates, but, dwelling 

 in a town as I do, I find my opportunities limited. I believe, 

 however, I was so fortunate as to observe the first arrival this 



