425 
Letters , Announcements , fyc. 
“ ‘ Descripcion de una nueva especie de pato del Peru/ 
Anales, xxi. 1862, p. 439. ( Querquedula angustirostris, Ph. 
et L.) 
“ ‘ Descripcion de una nueva golondrina de mar/ Anales, 
xxi. Nov. 1862, p. 440. ( Sterna atrofasciata.) 
“ ‘ Contribuciones a la Ornitologia de Chile/ Anales, xxiv. 
April 1864, p. 336. ( Dendroeca atricapilla , Arundinicola citreola } 
Chlorospiza plumbea } Sycalls aureiventris, Accipiter chilensis ,)” 
We think that at no time have the ornithologists of this 
country been so active as they appear to be at present. The 
‘ Exotic Ornithology’ of our friends Messrs. Sclater and Salvin 
(the first part of which will probably have made its appearance 
before these pages meet the eyes of our readers) will be a worthy 
successor of the f Planches Enluminees/ the c Planches Coloriees/ 
and the ‘ Iconographie Ornithologique.’ Indeed we have every 
reason to expect that the letterpress will be far superior to that 
of those celebrated works, as the intention of the authors is to 
make it a series of monographic essays. 
Mr. E. L. Layard, who, as some of our readers are aware, has 
long been collecting materials for a work on the birds of South 
Africa, has been in England for the last six months to complete 
his preparations. Mr. Layard returns to the Cape of Good Hope 
in the course of the autumn, and, we understand, will imme¬ 
diately take steps for the publication of this desirable volume, 
which is nearly ready for the press, and will be printed at Cape 
Town. Everybody knows that the study of the birds of South 
Africa is beset with very great difficulty. There is not at present 
even a bare catalogue of their names, while the descriptions of the 
various species inhabiting the Cape Colony are scattered through¬ 
out many different publications, few of which are within the 
reach of most private persons. We are sure our readers will 
join with us in our best wishes for our friend’s safe return to his 
southern home, and for the success of his intended work. 
‘ The Birds of Middlesex’ is the title of a volume by Mr. 
J. E. Harting, which is to appear forthwith; while, we believe, 
the first volume of Mr. H. Stevenson’s ‘Birds of Norfolk’ 
may be expected about the close of the year. Mr. A. W. 
