65 [Vol. xlii. 



is elongated and coloured like a Spotted Flycatcher— this 

 was taken ;ibove and below the town ; the other was confined 

 to the vicinity of a pit at Clayhithe five miles below^ and 

 was marked wiih very small grey stipples. Each recurred 

 year after year for a time, then could be found no longer. 

 In eacli ca^e eggs dififeiing only in brightness of tint 

 occurred, and it was isuggested that they mjight belong 

 to an ancestor or descendant respectively. The number of 

 foster-parents' e,ags left untouched was shown to be very 

 variable ; but no emphasis was laid on tliis fact, as tlie 

 nests were frequently visited and the Cuckoos eggs promptly 

 removed. 



Several eggs with unusual foster-parents completed the 

 exhibition. 



Mr. KiRKE SwANN made the following remarks : — 



During my recent visit to America to attend the annual 

 gathering of the American Ornithologists' Union, I was 

 iible to visit several of the principal museums in the Eastern 

 States, and I think a brief account of what I found there 

 may be of interest. I should like, by way of preface, to 

 remark that I did not find tho climate so dry as I was led 

 to expect — in fact, it was very variable, — some spots being 

 much wetter than others, and I noted it as a curious fact 

 that the " wet " spots were generally where one met brother 

 ornithologists. 



I went first to New York, juid here I spent three or four 

 days at the American Museum of Natural History and 

 experienced the courtesy of Messrs. Chapman, Dwight, 

 Griscom, and others of the staff. The collection of skins at 

 this museum is a large and interesting one, very rich in 

 North American birds and moderately so in South American, 

 and the latter are pretty energetically worked by the staff', 

 each of them is allotted a separate geographical area to 

 work upon by Dr. Chapman. I made a number of in- 

 teresting notes here and acquired much useful information. 



During my stay in New York I went over one day to the 

 Brooklyn Institute Museum, where Mr. Engelhardt proved 

 very obliging, but the skin-collection there was very limited. 

 I found, however, a pair of Turkey-Vultures from Chincha 



