52



Correspondence.



CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ®c.


ILLUSTRATION FUND.


At the commencement of the Magazine’s year, may I once more, whilst

thanking those members who so generously responded to my appeal, again

remind others that in order to maintain and increase the quantity and quality

of our illustrations, donations to the fund are needed. One would like to publish

a coloured illustration every month, for no mere black and white one can do

justice to, or give a full idea of, many species of birds.


Quite lately one of our members told me that he was enabled to procure

one particular species from China, owing to his sending out a coloured illustra¬

tion from our Magazine, which was at once recognized by a Chinaman who had

been asked to procure the living birds.


No description or black and white drawing is of any assistance to many

natives of different countries ; indeed the same thing often applies in our own

case. Hubert D. ASTLEY, Editor.


SOME BIRDS FROM YUCATAN.


At the end of September Major Horsbrugh deposited at the London Zoo¬

logical Gardens some birds which had been brought from Yucatan, amongst

which were two species of Mocking Birds, one of which seems to be Mimus

gilvus, syn. gracilis. There were two of them, charmingly tame, and quite

youngsters, still at that time opening their mouths wide for food, They are in

my possession and are smaller than the better known M. polyglottus — the North

American Mocking-Bird ; the head and mantle are of a purer ash-grey, with the

wings and central tail feathers blacker. The Mocking-Birds are somewhat

difficult to distinguish, for there are many of them, and all bear a very close

family resemblance.


Some Red Cardinals in this collection seem to be merely a rather smaller

race of the N. American birds, and the male is more vermilion in colour.


Two species of Hangnests ( Icterus mesomelas mesomelas and another), very

handsome, with shorter bills and more refined heads than has the “common”

Hangnest.


Five Yucatan Jays ( Cissolopha yucaianica) all but nestlings, their heads

still whitish instead of black. When young this bird is white, gradually

changing to the adult plumage, which is very handsome. Bill, head, and

underparts, black ; upper parts, with long tail, smalt Kingfisher blue. Yellow

rim of skin round eyes. Legs and feet orange yellow.


The Yucatan birds ought to be hardy, for Mr. Gaumer wrote about the

climate and seasons as follows : —


“ I reached Yucatan on the 14tli of Oct. in the first heavy norther of the

” season. The weather had been good for some ten days before, the summer



