Letters, Announcements, ^c. 495 



way. One day the wooding-party brought me off a specimen 

 of Didelphys elegans, which had been caught in the fork of a tree 

 which was cut down. I ascertained it to be this species by 

 Schinz's * Synopsis MammaUum ;' and he gives the neighbour- 

 hood of Valparaiso as its habitat ; so I was much interested by 

 its occurrence so much further south and in this rainy climate. 

 Has it ever been procured so far south before ? We reached 

 Ancud on the 22nd, and have been there since. The weather 

 has been fearful, rain in torrents ; but we hope to leave for Val- 

 paraiso, whence I shall despatch this letter, in the course of four 

 or five days. Mr. Darwin truly remarks that the climate of 

 Chiloe is detestable ; and that of the Channels between the Strait 

 and the Gulf of Penas is a good deal worse. To give you an 

 idea of the amount of rain we have had since we left Sandy Point 

 on the 9th of March, I may mention that since then the deck of 

 the ship has not been dry for seven days ; and it rains so tre- 

 mendously that the whole ship's company might be supplied with 

 water two or three times over in the course of a single day. These 

 statements, strange though they may appear,are literally accurate. 



To return to your letter, I am sorry to state that I have not 

 met with any species of Fulica at all as yet. I hope to be at 

 Port Famine for some little time next season, however, and be 

 more successful there. 



And now I shall conclude hoping that I have not utterly 

 exhausted your patience by the length of this letter. 

 Believe me, very truly yours, 



Robert O. Cunningham. 



The following letters, addressed " To the Editor of ' The Ibis,' " 

 have been received : — 



Sir, — I obtained three specimens of a Flamingo last week 

 which differ so much from Phcenicopterus roseus that I have no 

 doubt that they are a different species. 



These birds were shot fifty miles from here a few days ago 

 by Lieut. Feilden of the 21st Fusileers, who last year noticed a 

 flock of the same species on the same water, but was unable to 

 shoot a specimen. This year there were about fifty P. roseus, 

 and a flock of eight of the species I now describe, on the lake. 



