Letters, Extracts from Correspondence , Announcements, fyc. 119 
An article ‘ On Norfolk Island/ by Dr. C. T. Downing (in 
the lately published second part of the third volume of the 
Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania), 
contains the following paragraphs relating to the birds now 
found there. Among them may be recognized some of the spe¬ 
cies indicated by Herr von Pelzeln in his paper on the ornitho¬ 
logy of this island, of which we gave a resume in our last Number 
(‘Ibis/ 1860, p. 421). But there is little doubt that Herr von 
Pelzeln’s list does not embrace all the species of birds found in 
the island; for Dr. Downing mentions three kinds of Parrots as 
occurring there, and Herr von Pelzeln only gives one—the 
Nestor. It would be very desirable that a complete investiga¬ 
tion should be made of the Faunas of this and similar isolated 
spots of the world’s surface, and their peculiar species registered, 
before the advancing tide of human civilization shall have com¬ 
pletely extirpated them, as has been already the case in some 
well-known instances. 
“ A greater number and variety of the feathered tribes inhabit 
this lonely group, or visit it during the breeding-season. The 
Guinea-fowl (?) was observed by the early navigators, but has 
now become quite extinct. There are three kinds of Parrot 
on Norfolk Island:—the small crimson and blue Lory— Psit- 
tacus pennantii; one green with a red ring round the base of 
the beak; and another. These birds are easily entrapped. A 
dingy-plumaged Kingfisher, bold and fierce, is very common, 
and passes under the name of ‘The Norfolker.’ The domestic 
Pigeon has been naturalized, and breeds abundantly among the 
cliffs. Its numbers would be troublesome but for the ravages of 
the wild Cats. A large and handsome species of Pigeon, called 
the ‘Wood Queest/ with bronzed head and breast, is met with 
occasionally round the base of Mount Pitt, but has hitherto 
resisted all efforts at domestication. In addition, there is a 
variety of the Blackbird (so called) or Robin, with a white head 
and scarlet breast, Guava birds, White-eyes, and Fan tails. These 
last-named small birds are met with in the gullies, and are so 
tame as to perch upon the finger or a stick, if held towards 
them. One specimen of the Avocet, the Recurvirostra rubri- 
collis , was shot upon the island about a year and a half since, 
