Dr. O. Finsch’s Ornithological Letter. 429 
Black Ibis, rare in the swamps, one shot. 
Bittern, one shot in a swamp in the woods, only one seen. 
Kingfisher, male and female, shot in the monte, not com- 
mon; the female has rufous on the breast, like the former. 
Partridge, lives in the woods, not common, only one shot. 
Small Finch, one shot, male and female alike; rare. 
There is a smaller Bittern of a light grey colour, also Snipe ; 
neither yet obtained. 
June 29. Thermometer 9 a.m. 33°; hard frost last night. 
Large Owl, 3, one shot in the monte ; lives in shady spots 
amongst large trees ; not seen again. 
Creeper, same as shot previously, common, one shot. Mil- 
vago chimango, saw one today; rare here. Woodpecker, one 
skinned, common. ‘These birds have some habits like Wood- 
peckers in flight, feeding on trunks of trees, but spend much 
time on the ground, feeding on insects there. 
[Subsequent to the 29th of June no entry appears in the 
diary, nor do any of the birds which have reached England 
seem to have been killed at a later date. We gather, how- 
ever, from other sources, that he remained for some days at 
San Bernardo, occasionally riding over to Sefior Cornejo’s 
house at Campo Santo. About the beginning of July (the 
exact date is not quite clear) he was taken ill, and made at 
once for Campo Santo, evidently feeling that here he would 
be in good hands should his condition become at all serious. 
After this Durnford’s strength began to fail rapidly, and, 
notwithstanding all the exertions of Sefior Cornejo and his 
family, he gradually grew worse, and breathed his last on the 
morning of the 13th July, 1878. ] 
XLII.—Ornithological Letters from the Pacific—No. IV.* 
The Gilbert Islands, Kingsmill Group. By Orro Finscu, 
Ph.D., H.M.B.O.U., &c. 
Durine November and December last year I made a cruise 
in the Gilbert Archipelago, or Kingsmill group, on board 
* For No. III. see anted, p. 329. 
