310 Letters, Extracts, Notices, fyc. 



expedition will remain for at least three months, while ex- 

 cursions will be made into the adjacent districts of Bauchi, 

 Kataguni, and South Bornu, and every sort of information 

 about the topography, geology, and natural history of the 

 country will be amassed. We need hardly assure the 

 readers of ' The Ibis'' that the birds of Tonga will 

 receive their full share of attention, Jose Lopez being an 

 experienced collector. After leaving Tonga it is proposed to 

 explore the valley of the River Komadugu, which enters 

 Lake Chad at Yo, and thence to pass into the northern 

 portion of the German colony of Kamerun. But the exact 

 route of return must depend on circumstances. General 

 Sir Frederick Lugard has promised every possible assistance 

 to the expedition. 



British Ornithologists abroad. — Besides Captain Boyd 

 Alexander, several other ornithological friends are now 

 away, " ultra quatuor muria." Mr. Scott Wilson, whose 

 previously announced departure was delayed by an accident 

 (see 'Ibis/ 1902, p. 354) and other circumstances, is now 

 on his way to Tahiti; Mr. M. J. Nicoll is in Lord Crawford's 

 yacht, the ' Valhalla,' in the West Indies, and writes to us 

 from Grenada, having previously visited Barbadocs and 

 St. Lucia; Mr. Douglas Carruthers is at Beyrout, being 

 temporarily attached to the Museum of the Syrian Protestant 

 College there; and Mr. Howard Saunders has taken refuge 

 in Southern Spain, whence, however, he proposes to return 

 iu time for our Anniversary Meeting on May 11th. 



The Society for the Protection of Birds. — Every member 

 of the B. O. U., we are sure, will sympathise generally with 

 the objects of the Society for the Protection of Birds, and. 

 will be pleased to hear that the thirteenth Annual Meeting 

 of the Society (which was held on February 24th last) was 

 well attended, a good account of its progress being given. 

 The Report of the Committee (published at 3 Hanover 

 Square) informs us that the efforts of the Society in 1903 

 have been directed principally into three channels — the 



