396 
Letters , Announcements, fyc. 
and in several specimens prepared by me there have been 
five. Five must therefore be considered the normal num¬ 
ber. Comparing his vignettes of the tracheal enlargements 
in the Duck-tribe with the specimens which I have prepared, 
I have only in a few instances found mine to differ from his. 
Perhaps the most difference I have observed is in the Shel- 
duck, the lobes in mine being a good deal larger than they 
were apparently in his ; but it is possible that his picture may 
have been purposely done on a small scale. 
In allied species of Ducks, where the outward marks of 
shape and colour conform, one would naturally expect a con¬ 
formity of trachea ; but any naturalist who has dissected 
birds can at once lay his hand on a remarkable exception. 
The Garganey and Teal are very near cousins; but the 
Garganey's windpipe in no way resembles a Teaks; it is 
vastly larger in the labyrinth. In a specimen now before me 
this labyrinth, or cartilaginous box, if one may so term it, 
measures inches in circumference, whereas in a Teal the 
same part measures only 1\ inch; yet neither of these speci¬ 
mens was selected as being unusually large or small. 
J. H. Gurney, Jun., 
Northrepps Cottage, Norwich. 
May 12, 1877. 
Sirs, —A few months ago I had an opportunity of examin¬ 
ing a large collection of Phylloscopi which had been lent to 
my friend Mr. Seebohm by different collectors. One bird in 
particular attracted my attention. 
It belonged to the collection of Yon Homeyer, and was 
labelled cc Phylloscopus middendorffi $ juv., Tjabuk, 16th 
August 1872 :” on the back of the label was, “Ural, No. 9.” 
I found it to be, beyond all doubt, Phylloscopus viridanus 
of Blyth in its first plumage, before the slight wing-bar loses 
its colour and becomes whitish. Two of my examples that I 
had with me, early autumn birds, matched it most perfectly. 
The southern part of the Ural Mountains is in Bussia in 
Europe, and does not, like the northern portion, form the 
boundary between Europe and Asia ; and this being the case. 
