304 MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS 



but unless they are from some new locality or possess 

 some other remarkable qualification, I will not trespass 

 on your bounty. I have specimens from Spain, France, 

 and India, and there is a " damnable iteration " about 

 them all. Why does not some one bring home a 

 Flamingo's nest ? the whole pillar of mud in which the 

 hen " s'assoit, comme Monsieur sur une vase " — as the 

 Frenchman told J. W. Clark. There is a deal of in- 

 teresting matter to be got out of this bird. How does 

 it collect the mud, and how heap it up ? To this day 

 the best authority on the subject is old Dampier, 

 who wrote more than 200 years ago. If the gentle- 

 men of England who go abroad at ease would look after 

 a few things like this they would cap their exploits, 

 which of course already surpass those of the orni- 

 thologists of any other nation. 



Your hybrid Owl must be a really funny fellow. 

 Do pray have his portrait taken, and at least tmce ; 

 once before he loses his first plumage, and then when 

 he gets his next suit. All young Owls, so far as I 

 know, have dark irides ; when he gets older he will 

 probably have them a half-and-half colour, something 

 between Bass and Guiness. 



I went to Baker's to-day and saw the son (whom by 

 the way, I believe to be a good honest lad). I told 

 him his father was very foolish not to send you your 

 bird at once. He has had an Eagle of my brother's 

 some 8 or 9 years. It is always coming home next 

 week! 



Yours very truly, 



Alfred Newton. 



S.S. Oloimorm, E.Y.S., Dartmouth, 



August 8, 1883. 



My dear Newton, 



Your information about Great Auk's egg is 

 correct, I saw it at Burton's ; a very fair good specimen 

 with a largeish fracture or irregular orifice at the small 

 end, which had been tolerably patched up ; it had the 



