243 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



Cape Town, Dec. 17, 1867. 



Sir, — The publication of my * Catalogue of the Birds of South 

 Africa' has given such an impetus to Ornithological inquiry in 

 this colony, and has brought me so much additional information 

 respecting nests, eggs, and habits, from new correspondents as 

 well as old ones, that, if you will allow me an occasional page or 

 two in ' The Ibis,' I shall be happy to communicate such of my 

 notes as I think will prove interesting to your readers. 



2. Neophron percnopterus. When I published the 

 * Catalogue,' I was not aware that this bird bred with us, all my 

 inquiries having failed to produce an affirmative reply. A new 

 correspondent, however, at Colesberg, Mr. A. F. Ortlepp, whose 

 name will often appear in future, has informed me that they breed 

 near that place, and has forwarded two magnificently coloured 

 eggs, exceeding in that respect anything that I remember to have 

 seen in collections, Mr. Ortlepp mentions a curious circum- 

 stance : beneath the nest were found vast numbers of the crania 

 of small Rodents. 



5. Otogyps auricularis. These birds breed in August. j 

 Mr. Henry Jackson, from Beaufort, writes on the 30th, "Visited 

 the Black Vulture's nest to-day, and found one young one, two 

 or three days old." On the 31st he writes of 



6. Gyps fulvus. "To-day we stormed the Vulture's 'krantz* 

 [precipice] , and only got three eggs — two addled, and one which 

 was chipped by the young bird just ready to emerge. Had we 

 been three weeks or a month earlier, we might have got several 

 dozen. My last year's attempt was made on the 19th October; 

 and then the young birds were so large as to be mistaken for old 

 ones, from the top of the 'krantz '." 



38. Elanus melanopterus. The egg of this species, re- 

 ceived from Mr. William Atmore, of George, is pure white. 

 Axis 1" 11'"; diam. 1" 5'". They seemed to come in with the 

 Quail this year, about the 15th of October. 



48. Serpentarius reptilivorus. A new correspondent, 

 Mr. G. G. Reitz, of Riversdale, denies the statement that the 

 legs of the young depend through the nest. He suggests that 

 the extreme brittleness of the bones arises, in birds reared in con- 

 finement, from the fact that they are deprived of the lime de- 



