256 
Letters, Announcements , fyc. 
“ On an uniform Method of Registration for Observations 
on Natural History, especially as regards Distribution and 
Migration” (Proc. Glasg. Nat.-Hist. Soc. 1876-77). In the 
press. 
<( On the Distribution of the Birds of N. Russia.—Part I. 
The Latitudinal Distribution of Birds of N.E. Russia. Part 
II. The Longitudinal Distribution of Birds of N. Russia, 
north of 64° 30' N. lat.” (Annals & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1877.) 
Part i. in the press, part ii. in MS., part iii. in preparation"*. 
John A. Harvie Brown. 
P.S. I may be allowed to add that I knew nothing of Dr. 
RadakofPs work until about a week ago, when I heard of it 
from Messrs. Friedlander & Sohn, Berlin. 
Cobham, March 12, 1877. 
Sirs, —As a very recently elected and extremely unsci¬ 
entific member of the B. O. U., it is with great diffidence 
that I ask leave to call attention to a neglected point in the 
natural history of the Wheatear ( Saxicola cenan the). 
I allude to the two very distinct races of that bird, which 
I cannot help thinking fully as worthy of scientific recog¬ 
nition as the two races of Bullfinch ( Pyrrhula europaea and 
P. major ). 
Indeed, as I propose to show, there is considerable analogy 
between the two cases, the larger race being in each case 
distinguished by a deeper colouring as well as by size. 
The only authorities that I have been able to discover on 
the subject are Gould and Schlegel, other authors having 
failed to recognize any variation in the individuals of Saxicola 
cenanthe as generally recognized. Of these two authors 
Gould is the only one who gives exact measurements of the 
larger race; I therefore quote the following from his f Birds 
of Great Britain 3 :— 
Length. Spread of wing. Wing, 
in. in. in. 
Large race . . . 6| Ilf 4 
Small race 5| 10J 3J 
* Part iii. Longit. Dist. of Birds of N. Russia, between 60° and 64° 
30' N. lat. 
