Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 399 



glad if any of our Indian correspondents can supply us with 

 further information on this interesting point. 



The Victoria Histories of the Counties of England. — The 

 attention of our readers should he once more drawn to the 

 lists of Birds included in the volumes of this work now in 

 course of publication. Since the issue of vol. i., in which 

 Mr. Meade-Waldo wrote on the Birds of Hampshire, several 

 other histories have been completed, while we have just 

 received a copy of the article on the ornithology of Derby- 

 shire by the Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain. This county has an 

 especial claim to our notice from the fact that the northern 

 and southern forms there overlap in many cases, and it is also 

 interesting as possessing great diversity of character. The 

 author gives us a list of the literature referring to the birds 

 and a good account of their present position under Protection. 

 In some cases the habits of the birds are given in rather 

 greater detail than seems necessary for a county list, but this 

 may well be overlooked in consideration of the equally full 

 and valuable details which are given elsewhere. We are not 

 astonished to learn that the Haven, Buzzard, and Kite have 

 disappeared from the county, but agree with Mr. Jourdain 

 that the decrease of the Wood-Lark and Pied Flycatcher 

 is somewhat unaccountable. Many birds have increased in 

 numbers, notably the Hawfinch, Great Crested Grebe, and 

 Redshank. We may also draw attention to the case of a 

 Redstart breeding in a Scotch fir-tree, and of the Chaffinch 

 decorating its nest with scraps of paper, the latter of which 

 reminds the present writer of a similar nest found in the county 

 of Durham on the ground among flowering grass-stems. 



The Cur at or skip of the Sarawak Museum. — We understand 

 that Mr. J. Hewitt, of Jesus College, Oxford, has been 

 appointed Curator of Rajah Brooke's Museum at Kuching, 

 Sarawak, Borneo, in succession to Mr. Robert Shelford, who 

 has come back to England and is now engaged on Entomo- 

 logical work at the University Museum, Oxford. 



