Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 577 



Mr. Brook's Paradise-birds. — Mr. E. J. Brook, of Hoddam 

 Castle, Ecclefechan, N.B., who has a very fine collection of 

 living Paradise-birds, writes to Mr. Ogilvie-Grant as 

 follows : — 



" You have heard, I think, that my Rifle-birds [Ptilorhis 

 intercedeas) from British New Guinea, brought home by 

 Mr. Goodfellow, have laid two eggs, both of which, however, 

 were accidentally broken. I hope that the hen will lay 

 again, but at present she shews very few signs of building a 

 uest. 



'' I have discovered another thing that will interest you, 

 viz., that the hen of this bird has the same voice as the 

 cock, only not so strong. She also dances and displays 

 before the male with much the same actions as his. It 

 is a very curious sight to see the two birds dancing a solemn 

 minuet together." 



Col. Roosevelt's East-African Expedition. — We learn from 

 the 'Smithsonian Report,' lately issued, that the Zoological 

 collections made by Col. Roosevelt's Expedition to East 

 Africa have reached Washington in excellent condition, and 

 have been deposited in the National Museum of the U.S. 

 The collection of Birds is said to contain nearly 4000 speci- 

 mens. We venture to express a hope that tiie Ornithologist 

 who undertakes the determination and description of this 

 large and important collection will be authorized to visit the 

 collection at South Kensington, where there is a very ex- 

 tensive series of specimens from British East Africa and 

 Uganda. The large private collection of Mr. F. J. Jackson 

 is, we believe, also deposited there, and would be probably 

 available for comparison. 



The Expedition of the B.O.U. into Central New Guinea. — In 

 consequence of the proved impossibility of reaching the snow- 

 fields of New Guinea by the route on which the explorers 

 had started, and which had been specially selected, as likely 

 to be the most advantageous, it was resolved, after a final 



