Letters, Notes and Extracts. 737 



(above, p. 423), that on comparison of a large series (not single 

 skins) one can see that it is a trifle paler and greyer than 

 C. loudoni, and a trifle less chestnut and more earthy 

 greyish brown than C. carduelis. 



In the April number of ' The Ibis' (above, p. 397) I 

 find a note about a Wild Swan nesting in Seistan, wdiich 

 has been recorded as Cygnus musicus (Journ. Bomb. N. H. 

 Soc. vol. xvi. p. 697, 1905). It is very justly remarked as 

 strange that a Whooper should breed so far south. In con- 

 nection with this note it will be of interest, perhaps, to your 

 readers to know that Mr. IN". A. Sarudny, in his last work 

 on the birds of Eastern Persia (Mem. Soc. Imp. Russ. 

 Geogr. vol. xxxvi. n. 2, 1903, p. 100), in the Russian 

 language, says that it is the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) that 

 nests in Seistan. As to the Whooper, it has been stated by 

 Mr. Sarudnj' - (in one of his previous works) to be only a 

 winter-visitor there, and evidently a rare one. 



Yours &c, 



S. A. BUTURLIN. 

 Weseriburg, Estbonia, Russia, 

 22nd June, 1906. 



Sirs, — Referring to my letter of the 19th April (above, 

 p. 611) respecting the wholesale taking of eggs of the Great 

 Skua in Iceland, I have since heard from my friends 

 Dr. Finsch and Mr. Herluf Winge that Mr. A Bachmann, 

 who wrote the article to which I referred, is not a collector, 

 but an artist and photographer, and that he visited Iceland 

 for the purpose of photographing and not of collecting 

 eggs. I therefore take this opportunity of apologizing to 

 Mr. Bachmann for the mistake made in supposing him to be 

 an egg-collector, and to have been concerned in the harrying 

 of the colony of Great Skuas. It appears that the peasant, 

 Oddur Brunjolsson, who took the 240 Skuas' eggs . (all of 

 which were obtained in one day), and who was photographed 

 along with his plunder, collected them for a well-known 

 Icelandic naturalist-dealer, Mr. Nielsen, with whom Mr. 

 Bachmann was staying. Mr. Winge informs me that in 



