Letters, Notes and Extracts. 217 
than that of a bird) is to be heard all through this heavily- 
timbered country. 
If they are likely to prove acceptable, I propose to forward 
to you some notes on the birds that I have observed here, 
and thus give ornithologists an idea of the scarcity of bird- 
life even in the wildest of the New Zealand forest-districts 
in the present day. . 
I am, Sirs, yours &c., 
J. C. McLean. 
Te Karaka, Gisborne, 
New Zealand, 
July 29th, 1906. 
[We shall be glad to receive Mr. McLean’s actes. See 
his former contributions in 1889, 1892, and 1894.—Epbp. | 
Srrs,—I have been greatly interested in reading of the 
occurrence of Yotanus melanoleucus in the Scilly Islands 
(Bull GO. °C) xm. p. 7).. This makes, 1 think, the 
eighth species of American Wader obtained in those islands, 
some of which have occurred more than once; while if the 
counties of Devonshire and Cornwall be added, we shall 
have a list of eleven species of American Waders that have 
occurred on these coasts, comprising a total of twenty-four 
individuals. Several of these species have also reached the 
coasts of Sussex and Kent. Besides the examples recorded 
from time to time, many others must have been overlooked. 
Surely this is a most significant fact, and one that should 
cause British ornithologists to receive the occurrences of 
American birds other than Waders (such as Turdus migra- 
torius and Dendreca estiva) with less suspicion than has 
hitherto been the case. 
Personally I cannot believe that a quarter of the number 
of American birds recorded in the British Islands can have 
received “ assisted passages.” Such a thing as an “ assisted 
passage,” for Waders at least, is an impossibility, as these 
birds, apart from the fact that they seldom settle on ships, 
could not obtain any food by doing so, and would surely die 
long before the ship reached England or Ireland. 
