71 [Vol. xii. 



Mr. William Sclater also gave an account of the progress 

 of the " Birds" in his 'Fauna of South Africa." The first 

 two volumes, of which one had been passed through the press 

 by the late Dr. Stark and the other had been edited from his 

 notes, had been published. These finished the account of the 

 Passercs. The third volume, prepared by Mr. Sclatcr with 

 some assistance from Dr. Stark's MSS., and containing the 

 Picarise, Accipitrcs, and Strigcs, was now ready for press, and 

 it was hoped that a fourth volume would conclude the work. 



Dr. Sclateh read some extracts from a letter addressed to 

 him by Capt. G. E. II. Barrett-Hamilton (5th Royal Irish 

 Rifles), dated Vrcdefort Road, Orange River Colony, in which 

 he stated i that he had already managed to get together a 

 collection of some 800 birds, besides other animals. Capt. 

 Barrett-Hamilton had forwarded a small white egg, which 

 he believed to be that of the Pin-tailed Widow-bird (Vidua 

 principalis). Stark (B. S. Afr. i. p. 117) had said the egg 

 of this bird " had not been described." The specimen had 

 been taken by Lieut. Luaril, of the R. West Kent Regt., 

 who had found it near Frankfort, O.R.C., on his march, and 

 had written to Capt. Barrett-Hamilton as follows : — "I saw 

 the bird fly from the grass. The nest was on the ground — 

 circular, entirely covered in, made of grass and lined with 

 very fine grass : it contained four eggs lying points inwards." 



The next Meeting of the Club will be held on Wednesday, 

 the 18th of June, 1902, at 8.30, at the Restaurant Frascati, 

 32 Oxford Street ; the Dinner at 7 p.m. 



(Signed) 

 P. L. Sclater, R. Bowuler Sharpe W. E. de Winton, 



Chairman. (Editor). Sec. § Treas. 



