Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 655 



[We are sorry that Dr. Forbes was unable to approve 

 of his plate. Owiag to the great iraprovemeut of the 

 mechanical processes of reproJuctiou of coloured drawings, 

 both by chromolithography aud by the vaiious pliotographic 

 processes, it has become more and more difl&cult to get 

 l^lates printed by lithography satisfactorily coloured by 

 hand as was done in previous years. We have, therefore, 

 been endeavouring to reproduce coloured plates by the new 

 mechanical processes. In the case of Dr. Forbes^s plate, the 

 first result was admittedly unsatisfactory, and the only way 

 in which the plate could be ready in time for publication 

 was to have each copy touched up by hand. This was done, 

 aud to us as well as to the artist the result seemed satisfac- 

 tory and an accurate representation of the original drawing. 

 We regret that Dr. Forbes was unable to agree with us, 

 and we hope we shall be able to satisfy him on a future 

 occasion.] 



The New Edition of the B. 0. U. List of British Birds. — 

 Members of the Union will doubtless be pleased to hear 

 that the new List is now complete and all in type. The 

 Committee hope that it will be ready for publication before 

 the end of the present year. 



A Correction. — On page 518 of the July number of '^ The 

 Ibis,' it is stated that the " so-called Siberian or Thick- 

 billed form (of the Nutcracker), Nucifraga c. macrorhynchus^ 

 breeds as far west as East Prussia. ^^ There is some con- 

 fusion in regard to this statement; the Siberian Nutcracker 

 (A'^. c. macrorhynchus) is the Slender-billed form, and does 

 not appear to have been recorded breeding west of Siberia, 

 though there have been several " irruptions " of late years 



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