399 
Letters, Announcements, fyc. 
Sirs, —Mr. Gould, in part xxix. of f Tlie Birds of Asia,' 
treating of Sturnus unicolor, quotes from part xxvi. of Dresser's 
work f The Birds of Europe J a passage where it is said that 
Sturnus unicolor is “ common in Italy." This is not exactly 
the case; and I suppose that Dresser, by a lapsus calami , 
wrote “ Italy " instead of <e Sardinia." When I wrote my 
work on the Birds of Italy I did not know of any instance 
of S. unicolor having been met with in the Italian peninsula ; 
but since then I heard from my friend the Marquis G. Doria, 
of Genoa, that in 1867 two specimens of it, caught near Genoa, 
had come into his hands. In any case the appearance of 
S. unicolor in Italy is quite accidental, while both in Sardinia 
and in Sicily S. unicolor is a common and stationary bird. 
I am, yours &c., 
T. Salvador!. 
Zoological Museum, 
Turin, June 8th, 1877. 
Roraima and its Mysteries .—The f Spectator' speaks very 
appositely of Roraima, in noticing Mr. Brown’s recent work 
(see antea, p. 239) :— 
“ One of the greatest marvels and mysteries of the earth 
lies on the outskirt of one of our own colonies; and we leave 
the mystery unsolved, the marvel uncared for ! A great table 
of pink and white and red sandstone, f interbedded with* red 
shale/ rises from a height of 5100 feet above the level of the 
sea, 2000 feet sheer into the sapphire tropical sky. A forest 
crowns it; the highest waterfall in the world tumbles from 
its summit, 2000 feet at one leap. As far as I can make out, 
only two parties of civilized explorers have touched the base 
of the table—Sir Robert Schomburgk many years ago, Mr. 
Brown and a companion in 1869—each at different spots. 
Mr. Brown cannot help speculating whether the remains of a 
former creation may not be found at the top. At any rate, 
there is the forest on the summit. Of what trees is it com¬ 
posed? They cannot well be the same as those at the 
base.... Eor millenniums this island of sandstone must have 
had its own distinct flora. What may be its fauna? Very 
