568 Letters, Extracts, Notices, fyc. 
very crowded, and tlie specimens are not yet arranged in 
scientific order. 
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Museum, and 
certainly that in which Whitaker takes chief pride and delight, 
is the very fine series of Tunisian birds collected by himself 
daring his many expeditions in the interior of the Regency. 
This collection, which is in the skin, is kept in cabinets in 
a smaller room adjoining the great hall, which is also used 
as a study, and is fitted up with libraries. The Tunisian 
collection, as also a collection from Marocco, contains types 
of several new species and subspecies, and is especially rich 
in Larks and Chats, among the latter possessing several 
specimens of that rare, recently discovered species, Saxicola 
seehohmi. The museum also has its working-rooms and a 
curator. 
Whitaker has also, this year, been again successful in 
breeding Porphyrios. A pair of these birds (Porphyrio 
cceruleus Yandelli) made a nest on the ground among the 
stems of a clump of bamboos soon after the middle of last 
March, while I was staying at Malfitano. The nest was 
rather large, and was constructed chiefly of dry bamboo- 
leaves. I was never able to see the eggs, for from the time 
the first egg was laid one of the parent birds, and occasionally 
both, was always on the nest. 1 have since heard from 
Whitaker that the brood has been successfully hatched. 
Yours &c., 
E. Cavendish Taylor. 
Florence, April 20th, 1900. 
Sirs, —Although not a member of the B. O. U., I have 
for many years been a subscriber to f The Ibis/ and possess 
the entire set from 1859 to the present date. This is my 
excuse for taking the liberty of offering a suggestion which 
will, I think, make your publication more useful to sub¬ 
scribers abroad. 
It is only a small matter in connection with your valuable 
“ Notices of Recent Ornithological Publications ”—viz., that 
you should insert at the end of the title of book mentioned 
