1885.] Geography and Travels, 63 
Merriam, C. H—Bird migration, 
~——On a bird new to the Bermudas. 
List of birds ascertained to occur within ten miles from Point de Monts, Que- 
bec, Canada. 
On a bird new to Northern South America, 
Gentry’s Nests and birds of the United States: 
Ravages of a rare scolytid beetle in the sugar maples of Northeastern New 
York, Ext. Amer. Nat 
Fit = eye of the harlequin duck (Histrionicus minutus), Ext. Bull. Nutt. Orn, 
ub, 
Remarks on some of the birds of Lewis county, Northern New York. Ext. 
Bull. Nutt, Orn, Club 
——A plea for the metric system in ornithology. From The Auk, Vol.1, 1884. 
GENERAL NOTES. 
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELS.' 
AFRICAN Nores.—Capt. C. E. Gissing, R. N., has recently un- 
. dertaken a journey inland from Mombasa, among the Wa-duruma 
and the Wa-teita, both of whom live in great dread of the Masai, 
who steal all the cattle they find, and kill their owners. The 
Wa-teita are rather undersized and are said to be very lazy, yet 
they live on mountain sides and summits, and cultivate the 
ground at the foot. The women do all the work, and carry fire- 
wood, utensils, etc., to the mountain top. Ndara, 4800 feet high, 
has a Wa-teita village at the top. This tribe are great robbers, 
but as they are armed only with bows and" poisoned arrows, in- 
stead of spear, shield, and sword, they are always defeated by the 
Masai. Kasigao (5185 feet), has a village at 1500 feet elevation. 
In time of drought the natives of this part of the country sell 
their children as slaves to the coast people, but always redeem 
them in a favorable season. Although barbarous in their deal- 
ings with each other, they seem to have a horror of the regular 
slave trade as carried on by slave-dealing caravans.——Mr. O. 
Neill has discovered a lake (Lake Chiuta) to the north of Lake 
Shirwa, south of Nyassa. The climate of the highlands of this 
district (east of the Shiré) is said by Capt. Foot to be well suited 
to European constitutions, and adapted to wheat, oats, European 
vegetables, and coffee-——Lake Nyassa is becoming a busy inland 
sea. Two steamers ply upon it, and one upon the river Shire. 
There have been difficulties with the Makololo, owing to the 
death of their Chief Chipatula at the hands of an English ele- 
phant-hunter, but these seem likely to be settled by the efforts of 
Capt. Foot. On Lake Tanganyika there are now three steamers. 
The African Lakes Company has ten depots between Quillimane 
and Malawanda, on Nyassa, and from this point a practicable road 
has been carried to Pambete, on Tanganyika———E. A. Floyer 
states that he rode from Wady Halfa to Debba, on the Nile, in 
` 1This department is edited by W. N. LOCKINGTON, Philadelphia. 
