Vol. xl.] 150 
prevent the whistles from slipping off. A quill thrust 
through the little round hole in the flat piece makes it all 
secure. 
One is always told that the object of the whistles is to 
scare away hawks, and no doubt that is one reason, but in 
almost every flock of tame pigeons three or four carry 
whistles, and I think the owners like the sound of them, 
There are pigeons that are let out at night, and I have heard 
the whistles overhead in the dark when there are certainly 
no hawks about. These night-flying birds are uncommon 
and a high price is asked for them. 
The whistles are never attached to birds used as carriers, 
as it impedes the flight to a certain extent, and so tires the 
bird and induces loitering, but it is at such times that the 
birds are most exposed to the attacks of falcons. I have 
been told that in the case of important messages they are 
sent in duplicate so as to allow for ‘ casualties.” 
Swinhoe mentions these whistles as common in Pekin, so 
no doubt they are used all over China. 
Mr. Cuar.Les Cause exhibited, on behalf of Dr. Percy R. 
Lowe, a portrait of the late Colonel H. M. Drummond Hay, 
who was the first President of the British Ornithologists’ 
Union. The photograph was formerly the property of the 
late Sir William H. Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S., and was pre- 
sented to the British Museum (Natural History) by Major 
Stanley Flower. 
Dr. H. Laneron exhibited Belon du Mans’ (Pierre) 
‘L’histoire de la nature des oiseaux, avec leur descriptions 
et naifs portraits retirez du naturel, 1555.' Also some 
original drawings, Birds (water colour). Probably all 
painted by Broadbelt—a great many signed (Bloomfield 
collection), 1778-1792. 
Dr. C. B. Ticrnurst drew attention to the Danish 
Ornithological Society’s Magazine (‘ Dansk Ornithologisk 
Forenings Tidsskrift’”) and remarked that he never saw any 
mention of it or review in ‘ The Ibis,’ and called attention 
