Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 339 



very valuable zoological and etlmograpliical collections were 

 made. Thence they made their way to Ceram, where they 

 stayed eight months, exploring the high mountains of 

 the interior, never previously visited by travellers or 

 collectors. Here very interesting zoological and botanical 

 collections were made, particularly on Gunung Pinaia, the 

 liighest mountain of the island, which attains an elevation 

 of 8300 ft. Subsequently, Dr. Taiiern spent two months on 

 Mysol, while Dr. Deninger and Mr. Stresemann worked on 

 Buru. Here, too, where the interior is quite unexplored, 

 the island was crossed twice from sea to sea, and the highest 

 mountain, Gunung Fogha, which reaches an elevation of 

 6200 ft., was ascended. In April, 1912, the expedition 

 returned home with a rich booty of observations and 

 collections. The number oP bird-skins brought ])ack was 

 upwards of 1200. A full report of the results of the 

 expedition will shortly be issued. 



The Alexandra Parrakeet (Polytelis ahxandne). — In 

 his interesting narrative of his journey ' Across Australia,' 

 Prof. Baldwin Spencer gives the following account of his 

 interview with this beautiful bird in the central wilderness. 



"Amongst the birds the most interesting one to be found 

 in the central area is the Princess Alexandra Parrakeet. 

 This was originally described by Gould in 1863, having 

 been discovered by Waterhouse during Stuart's third 

 expedition in 1861, when he succeeded in crossing the 

 continent from south to north. It is the most beautiful and 

 delicately coloured, as it is the rarest, of our Parrakeets. 

 It belongs to a small group characterised by the length and 

 narrowness of the tail-feathers, which add to their graceful 

 appearance, as compared with other Parrakeets. The natives 

 call it 'Milturung,^ which means 'long tail.'' A fully- 

 grown bird has a total length of seventeen inches, of 

 which the tail forms more than eleven. Delicate shades 

 of rosy and coral-pink, moss-green, cobalt-blue with 



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