554 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



said, by a reliable collector, to be those of Rall'ina triculor ; 

 the late Mr. Broadbent took white eggs of the same s})ecies. 

 The number of eggs to the white clutch has not been known 

 to exceed four, while the spotted clutch usually contains six 

 or eight, the eggs being of a different shape, size, and texture 

 of shell, the nests also are totally different. 



It is well known that a second Rail, as yet not identified, 

 but somewhat similar in colour aiul quite difl'erent in habits 

 to RaUina tricolor, inhabits the Cape York country, and 

 probably extends south along the coast. 



Js it not more reasonable to attribute the spotted eggs 



to tliis bird, rather than to assume that the many known 



clutches of white eggs are freaks of Ralliaa triculor? 



I am, Sirs, 



, Yours, &c., 



' Belltrees, 



Scone, N. S. Wales. H. L. White, 



April 21st, 1912. M.B.O.U., R.A.O.U. 



Neui and rare Birds from S.E. Tibet. — Col. F. M. Bailey, 

 whose adventurous journey across Central Asia has lately 

 been described in the 'Geographical Journal^ (xxxix. p. 334), 

 made a small collection of birds at high altitudes, a selection 

 from Avhich he has presented to the British Museum. 

 Amongst these are examples of Babax kosloivi and Plujllo- 

 scopiis homey eri (neither of which were previously repre- 

 sented in the National Collection), Palaornis derhianvs 

 (Shindeu Gompa, 13,500 ft.), and a fine series of 

 Phasianidaj — Tetraojjliasis szechenii, Crossoptilon tibetanuni, 

 Jthayenis yeoffroyi, Thaumalea aniherstice, Pkasianus eleyans, 

 and Perdix sifanica. 



Sheddiny of the sheath of the bill of a Penyiiin. — At the 

 meeting of the Zoological Society of London on the 7th of 

 May last Mr. D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., exhibited two horn-like 

 sheaths which had been shed from the orange-coloured patch 

 at the base of the lower mandible of a King Penguin 

 [Aptenodytes jyennanti) living in the Society's Gardens. 

 Mr. W. E. de Winton had observed the shedding of this 



