580 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



New Work on South- American Birds. — Lord Brahonrne, 

 F.Z.S.,M.B.O.U.,and Mr. Charles Chubb, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 

 (of tlie Zoological Department, British Museum), have 

 undertaken a difficult task — which, however, we trust they 

 will be able to carry to a successful conclusion — the pre- 

 paration of a new work on the Birds of South America. 

 AYhen completed it will consist of sixteen volumes of quarto 

 size illustrated by coloured plates drawn by Gronvold. 

 The first volume will contain a List of the Birds of South 

 America. This is well advanced. Volume IL, containing 

 the first portion of the general work, will be issued early 

 in 19L2, and subseqiient volumes at intervals of about nine 

 months, each volume consisting of about 300 pages and of 

 from 25 to 30 plates. 



The only work on this large subject is the ' Nomen- 

 clator Avium Neotropicalium' of Sclater & Salviu, published 

 in 1873. This gives a List of the Names of the lairds then 

 known to the authors as being met with in South and Central 

 America. It contains the names of 3560 species. But 

 enormous additions, as we are all aware, have, of late years, 

 been made to our knowledge of this subject — particularly 

 since the introduction of " trinomials. ^^ We suspect the 

 named species and subspecies of the Neotropical Ornis are 

 now likely to be at least 5000, even if they do not exceed 

 that number. 



The Huney-hird in North-East Rhodesia. — " One morning 

 \Alien we had paused for breakfast (near the River Cham- 

 bezi), a little Honey-bird flew to a tree quite near me and 

 began calling in a very excited manner. One of the boys 

 whistled in reply. Then the bird flew away and the boy, 

 quickly running, disappeared also. He did not return for 

 quite an hour — in fact, T was just thinking of moving on 

 without him, when with flashing eyes and a broad grin he 

 appeared at my side and offered me a large honeycomb filled 

 with honey. With gestures and whistlings he showed me 

 how he had run, and how, finally, the little bird had led him 

 to a tree up which he had climbed to find the honeycomb in 

 a hole in the trunk." — ' Via Rhodesia,' by Charlotte Mans- 

 field, p. 2G8. 



