574 ? Letters , Extracts, and Notes. 
to the Cape Verde Islands, the Zambesi and Kafue Elvers, 
the Gold Coast Colony, and the Island of Fernando Po, 
as well as that made during his memorable journey in 
1901-07 from the Niger to the Nile. It likewise contains 
the whole of the birds obtained during his last expedition to 
the islands of San Thome, Principe, and Annobon in the 
Gulf of Guinea; on the Peak of Cameroon and mountains 
to the north of it, and in Wadai, up to the time of his death. 
It would be difficult to over-estimate the value of the 
Alexander Collection to the Natural History Museum, for 
it supplies beautifully prepared and complete series of the 
Avifauna of islands and countries hitherto very imperfectly 
represented in the National Collection of Birds. The bequest 
comprises nearly four thousand bird-skins, and includes the 
type-specimens of no fewer than eighty-four species described 
for the first time by the late Mr. Alexander in his papers 
published in 4 The Ibis 9 and elsewhere. Many of these 
new species were previously not represented in the National 
Collection. 
I am, Sirs, 
Yours &c., 
W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. 
British Museum (Natural History), 
May 27th, 1911. 
Sirs,—I have the pleasure of informing the readers of 
4 The Ibis 9 that, a few days ago, the Zoological Society 
of Munich received, in a small collection of birds from 
Katanga, Congo State, a fine example of Balceniceps rex . 
The bird, a perfectly adult male in ashy plumage, was shot, 
in July 1909, in the papyrus-swamps of Lake Kisale, on the 
Upper Lualaba (Congo), by Captain Michell and kindly 
presented by him to this Museum. I believe it is the first 
authentic record of this species from the Congo State, 
although its occurrence in that district was to be expected 
(see Sir Harry Johnston’s note in 4 Ibis,’ 1902, p. 335), and 
extends its known range considerably to the south. Accord¬ 
ing to Captain Michell, the Whale-headed Stork, named 
