682 Letters, Extracts, Notices, 6^c. 
294 birds from the White Nile, received in exchange from 
Mr. E,. AI. Hawker : 37 birds from the Sudau, including 
the type of Cisticola aridula, and examples of two species 
new to the collection, received in exchange from Mr. H. F. 
Witherbv : 89 birds from the Cameroons, includino- the 
types of five new species and examples of six species new 
to the collection, collected by Mr. Gr. L. Bates, purchased : 
211 birds from Ecuador and Peru, including examples of 
four species new to the collection, purchased : 49 birds, 
including the types of nine new species and examples of 
23 species new to the collection, and 7Q nests and eggs, 
from New Guinea, collected by Herr Weiske, purchased : 
and a series of 529 specimens of the family Paridse, including 
four types and examples of many species new to the collection, 
formed by Prof. Menzbier, obtained by purchase/' 
The late Mr. Simons' s Collection of Birds. — An important 
series of nearly 2500 South-American bird-skins has been 
recently acquired by the British Museum of Natural History. 
This represents a part of the results of the labours of the 
late Mr. Perry O. Simons, who has been engaged in South 
America for several years collecting Mammals for Mr. Oldfield 
Thomas. Mr. Simons^ we regret to say, was murdered hy 
his native guide in November last, on the boundary between 
Chile and Argentina, near Puente de Inca, just as he had 
nearly completed his explorations and was on the point of 
coming home. Commencing with Ecuador, Mr. Simons 
had travelled through Peru to Bolivia and Northern Ar- 
gentina, visiting many localities \vhich no collector had 
previously explored, and had been at work in South America 
for about three years when he met his death. 
Mr. Budget fs Expedition lo the iSemiiki. — Mr. J. S. 
Budgett, E.Z.S., who has left England on a scientitic mission 
at Western Uganda, writing- from Kampala (13th July, 1902), 
informs us that he has obtained from Mr. Jackson the services 
of one of his trained skinners, and is just starting for the 
Albert Lake. He intends then to proceed to Port Portal, 
and so to some spot on the liiver Semliki, where he will 
work generally at the Fauna of that little-known district. 
