Letters, Extracts, and Notices. 671 



Mr. Eagle Clarke's new Observing. Station. — We are in- 

 formed that, by permission of the Commissioners of Northern 

 Lights, our fellow-member, Mr. Eagle Clarke, has been 

 spending his holiday in the lighthouse on the Flannan Islands 

 (West of The Lewis) for the purpose of the further study of 

 migration. Since the lighthouse was erected on this outlying 

 group a few years ago it has been ascertained that the 

 islands lie in the course of a considerable stream of migratory 

 birds en route between their northern spring- and southern 

 winter-quarters, a fact which is of special interest owing to 

 the far westerly situation of the isles, and one which renders 

 it very desirable that the phenomena observed there should 

 be thoroughly examined by an expert. Mr. Clarke has also 

 investigated the limited terrestrial fauna and flora of the 

 islands, which, owing to their remote situation and the 

 difficulty of landing on them, have not hitherto received suffi- 

 cient attention. The results of the expedition will, we trust, 

 furnish materials for an article in ' The Ibis ' next year. 



The Birds of the National Antarctic Expedition. — The 

 'Discovery,' after its three years' absence in the Antarctic 

 Seas, reached the East India Docks on September 17th, and 

 the collections of Natural History have been transferred to the 

 Museum at South Kensington, where they will be examined 

 and described by the members of the Scientific Staff of the 

 Expedition, with the assistance of the Naturalists of the 

 British Museum. The collection of Birds contains about 

 120 skins and a good series of eggs, besides skeletons and 

 specimens in spirit. Dr. E. A. Wilson, under whose charge 

 the collection has been formed, will, no doubt, undertake 

 its description. One of the most remarkable discoveries 

 made concerns the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). 

 This peculiar bird selects the dark night of the Antarctic 

 midwinter as its breeding-season, and lays its single egg as 

 it sits on an ice-floe, keeping it warm between its feet and 

 the lower part of its abdomen. 



