Vol. xv.] 14 



Mrs. Johnstone which will be published in the e Avicultural 

 Magazine ' for November 1904. 



" The egg is oval in shape, very slightly more pointed at 

 one end than the other ; the texture fine and the surface 

 smooth; the colour pinkish white. Dimensions 1*5 X 1*2 

 inches." 



Mr. W. P. Pycraft described the main features of this 

 nestling Touraco, which are of considerable interest : — The 

 bird, though a month old, had the trunk still invested in 

 down. This was black in colour, short, and sparsely dis- 

 tributed. The wings were relatively of great size, though 

 the quills had not finished their growth. The major coverts 

 of the upper surface, like those of nestling Game-birds, had, 

 however, completed their growth. 



The proportions of the hand and forearm agreed roughly 

 with those of the young Game-bird and Hoatzin, and differed 

 from what obtains in the adult, where the hand was shorter 

 instead of longer than the forearm. The thumb was armed 

 with a well-developed claw. 



Mr. Pycraft, in concluding his remarks, said that when 

 younger nestlings were obtained it would probably be found 

 that ihe wing of this bird repeated all the features which 

 were to be found in the wings of nestlings of Opisthocomus 

 and the Game-birds. In other words, it would show incon- 

 testable evidence of adaptation to an arboreal existence : 

 the precocious development of the wing having taken place 

 as a safeguard against such accidents as falling from the 

 tree in which the nest was placed. 



Letters were read from Mr. W. L. Sclater, dated at his 

 camp on the north bank of the Zambesi, about 14 miles 

 above the Victoria Falls, near the mouth of the Sinde, a 

 northern confluent of the Zambesi. Mr. Sclater had arrived 

 at the Victoria Falls by the newly-opened line from Bulu- 

 wayo, and was devoting himself to collecting birds and 

 butterflies, of which he had already amassed a series. The 

 spot selected was convenient for the purpose, facing the 



