212 Letter's, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, fyc. 
“ I have been so busy with my mass of specimens (all wanting 
sorting and cleaning), and with my numerous letters and books (a 
whole year), that my mind has been too much unsettled to write. 
Next mail I shall write to all my entomological and ornithological 
friends who have been kind enough to send me communications. 
“ I do not like the figure of Semioptera wallacii copied in ‘ The 
Ibis 9 from Gould’s: the neck-shields are not shown to advan¬ 
tage ; and the white plumes should be raised much higher or laid 
J /0 down lower—they are neither one thing nor the other. 
“ C. Allen starts in a week or two for N. Guinea—to the true 
locality for the rarer Birds of Paradise, and I trust he may be 
successful. The last voyage, with all its dangers and disappoint¬ 
ments, has nearly sickened me, and I think in one year I shall 
return. 
“I seem to have all your letters but one (April 16, I860).” 
The following extracts are from letters recently received by 
us from Mr. Edward Blyth :— 
“ Calcutta, January 4th. 
“ I have just received ‘The Ibis/ vol. ii. No. 8, and need I 
say that I am delighted with it ? My compliments especially 
to the Hon. T. L. Powys and to Mr. W. H. Simpson. I have 
also something like a compliment to send you on the part of 
my little Shama (Kittacincla macroura), whose cage hangs about 
eight paces from where I am now writing, and thoroughly enjoy¬ 
ing existence at the delicious temperature of 70° Fahrenheit. 
Turning to p. 410, opposite to which is a figure of Circaetus 
zonurus, and holding it up to look at it, little Shama imme¬ 
diately became in a violent condition of excitement. No doubt 
at all about it, as I have proved a second and a third time. 
There is something about that spirited figure of Circaetus zo¬ 
nurus which Shama less approves of than I do. We have all 
heard of the old Greek painter who deceived the birds. Here 
is a modern instance; and, I cannot help thinking, a sufficiently 
remarkable one. Alexander von Humboldt, in his ‘Personal 
Narrative, 5 if I remember rightly, relates that a small South- 
American monkey at once recognized the insects it had been 
accustomed to prey upon, though represented only in outline 
