Letters, Notes and Extracts. 511 
sidérable qu’on ne l’a soupgonné jusquici (v. ‘ Les Oiseaux 
de la Chine,’ p. 46). 
Je suis, Messieurs, avec respect, votre tout dévoué serviteur, 
Zi-ka-wei Museum, F. Courrots. 
prés Chang-Hai (Chine), 
28/3/07. wear 
Sirs,—As there has been some discussion in ‘ The Ibis’ 
about the identity of the Wild Swan of Seistan (see ‘ Ibis,’ 
1906, pp. 397, 612, 787), I beg leave to inform you that 
when I was in Caleutta in April last year (1906) I visited 
the Indian Museum and saw, by the kind permission of 
Mr. Annandale, the specimen transmitted to that institution 
by Col. Sir Henry Macmahon. 
After a careful examination of it, I think I may con- 
fidently say that it is undoubtedly an example of the 
Whooper (Cygnus musicus). 
I am, Sirs, yours obediently, 
Zoological Society’s Gardens, A, THomson, 
Regent’s Park, London, N.W., 
April 24th, 1907. 
Retirement of Dr. Emil A. Goeldi.—We regret to see the 
announcement that Dr. Goeldi has felt it necessary, after 
twenty years’ service in Brazil, to resign the Directorship of 
the Museum at Parad, which bears his own name and will 
ever remain a testimony of his splendid zeal and abilities. 
He is succeeded, we are informed, by Dr. J. Huber, 
who has lately had charge of the Botanical Section of the 
Goeldi Museum. Dr. Goeldi, who, as our readers know, 
has made many excellent communications to this Journal, 
will in future reside at Berne (86 Ziegler Strasse). 
Birds of the Central Thian-Shan.—In Dr. Merzbacher’s 
recently published account of his exploration of the Thian- 
Shan mountains of Central Asia *, we read of the difficulties 
that he met with in obtaining botanical specimens. 
“ Still less favorable,’ he continues, “were the con- 
* ‘The Central Thian-Shan Mountains, 1902-3,’ By Dr. Gottfried 
Merzbacher. London: John Murray, 1905. 1 vol., 8vo. 
