Correspondence. 
209 
" other two ; grey with bronze wing. Another very common bird 
"is the ' bina ' (local name), he is a sort of Hornbill, black and 
"white, with an enormous bill. I have a young one, which I am 
" going to keep as a pet. At present he is about the size of a 
" bantam hen, and has not a sign of a feather on him, but a mouth 
" capacity like a coal shute . He eats about as much as two niggers 
"and one white man combined (i.e.)=2 and one-tenth niggers). Hois 
a provident sort of a bird, and when the nuts are ripe lays in 
"a supply to last him through. My cook assures me that if I 
" hang up a bag near my bird's box, he will fill it during the nut 
"season — this is an unauthenticated piece of natural histor3'.'" 
"On this island (Ysabel) we have a Grey Crow exactly like 
"the 'Fen-crow' (Hooded Crow), it seems quite like home to hear 
"them cawing; it is only found on this island." 
" There are also Bronze -wing Plovers, Snipe and other long- 
" legged Snipe-like birds. We have a water-fowl just like the "New 
"Zealand ' I'okpha,' that big blue bird of which you have one stuffed ."* 
" The bird that the natives like best is the ' nelama,' a 
" big Black Albatross ; they use models of him on their canoes, and 
" also cut out figures of him in mother-of-pearl, with which tliey 
" inlaj' the prows of their canoes most beautifully." 
" There are three kinds of Hawks : Sparrow and Eagle Hawks 
" similar to the English ones, and a Fish-Hawk which is the prettiest 
"of them all. He is copper-coloured with a white breast, he also 
"catches snakes, etc., on shore and will dive into the water after 
"fish. I saw a big fight between one of them and a big snake. 
" He had his talons in the snake's body and the snake seemed to have 
"hold of him. I did not see the end of the fight, unfortunately, as 
' thej both fell into the bush some way off and we could not follow." 
" There are very few small birds ; one, however, like the 
" AVater Wagtail in shape, and another rather like a black Starling, 
"and these are about the only ones you see. AYe have a Martin 
" just like the one at home, black with a copper-coloured throat. 
" With the exception of the Cockatoos all the birds have very dull 
" plumage ." 
I have no doubt that many of the birds my brother mentions 
are familiar to a good number of the members of the Club, but- I hope 
his notes may prove interesting to most. I have asked him to let me 
know how he gets on with the young Hornbill. 
E. E. P. GOEKINGE. 
^ 
The Club Dinner. 
This was held at the Holborn Restaurant on Thursday, 
May 21st. Though our numbers were not in any sense large, 
it proved a most interesting gathering to those present, among 
* The New Zealand Coot. 
