48 
Dr. O. Finsch's Ornithological Letters. 
having a median longitudinal band of black, which renders the 
specific term strigiceps very apposite. 
Mr. Darwin gives as the locality of this species Santa Fe, 
on the Rio Parana. It is singular that in all the collections 
from the Argentine Republic which I have examined of late 
years, I have never met with an example of it, the only spe¬ 
cimen I have seen being one in my own collection, which I 
obtained in exchange from Mr. Gould some years ago, and 
which is probably one of Mr. Darwin’s original skins. This, 
however, is most likely due to the fact that most of the Ar¬ 
gentine collections have been procured from the vicinity of 
Buenos Ayres, and that Santa Fe, as pointed out by Mr. 
Darwin* *, belongs to a different fauna. 
Y .—Ornithological Letters from the Bremen Expedition to 
Western Siberia. By Otto Finsch, Ph.D., Hon. Memb. 
B.O.U., Chief of the Expedition. 
On board the steamer 1 Beljetschenko,’ 
River Ob, 3rd July, 1876. 
Sir, — I beg leave to send you a few notes relating to the 
birds observed by us during our recent trip through Western 
Siberia and into the northern parts of Turkestan and China. 
Though we left Nishni-Novgorod on the 19th March, we 
did not reach Omsk until the 20th of April, the roads being 
in a bad state, owing to the forwardness of the spring, and the 
consequent melting of the snow. No opportunities offered 
for making any observations on the birds of the country passed 
through, except as regards the few species seen on the road- 
* u In the morning we arrived at Santa F6. I was surprised to observe 
how great a change of climate a difference of only three degrees of lati¬ 
tude between this place and Buenos Ayres had caused. This was evident 
from the dress and complexion of the men, from the increased size of the 
ombu trees—the number of new cacti and other plants, and especially 
from the birds. In the course of an hour I remarked half-a-dozen of the 
latter which I had never seen at Buenos Ayres. Considering that there is 
no natural boundary between the two places, and that the character of 
the country is nearly similar, the difference was much greater than I 
should have expected.”— Narr. Voy. Beagle , iii. p. 147. 
