354 Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 
Mr. Witherby takes with him Mr. C. F. Camburn_, an experi- 
enced professional taxidermist, who accompanied him up the 
White Nile in 1900, and will, no doubt, obtain excellent 
results, although we fear that Persia, however diligently 
it may be searched, is not capable of producing many 
absolute novelties in bird-life. 
Mr. Alexander Whyte, after a rest in England, has 
returned to British East Africa, via Mombasa, but will 
be engaged principally in botanical collecting. He is, 
however, always ready to attend to the special requirements 
of his old correspondents. 
Mr. Scott B. Wilson started on January 16th last for 
Tahiti, vid New Zealand, with the intention of making a 
complete exploration of the Tahiti group and possibly going 
on to Samoa. On his passage down the Channel, however, 
we regret to learn, Mr. Wilson had the misfortune to 
break his leg, and was in consequence obliged ' to land 
at Plymouth. On his recovery he has determined to make 
a fresh start, but some months^ rest are still absolutely 
necessary. 
Capt. G. E. Barrett- Hamilton, F.Z.S., is ^^at the front'''' 
with the 5th Eoyal Irish Rifles, and is believed to be at 
present engaged in ''^ guarding the lines of communication " 
near Vredefort Boad, in the Orange Colony. But he is by 
no means neglectful of Natural History, and has lately sent 
several small contributions to the Zoological Society. 
The last news we received from Mr. A. Blayney Perceval 
were dated from Takunga, British East Africa, where he holds 
a post in the Government Service. Mr. Perceval complains 
of its being an extremely poor place for birds, but was much 
pleased to have obtained a second specimen of Macha- 
rhamphus anderssoni, '^ with a bat in its stomach " [cf. 
P.Z. S. 1899, p. 714). 
Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, we believe, has not yet 
returned from Tangier, where he has passed the winter. We 
hope soon to receive an account of his excursion into the 
Great Atlas in 1901, and further information on the new birds 
lately characterized by him in the Bull. B. O. C. (xii. p. 27). 
