564 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 
Tlie following letter has been received from Mr. Boyd 
Alexander:— 
Victoria, Kamerun, 
April 9, 1909. 
I arrived here about a week ago from Fernando Po after 
making collections on San Thome, Annabon, and Principe. 
These three islands have not come up to my expectations, but 
the results in the last may atone for the deficiencies of the 
two former. San Thome is very mountainous and thickly 
wooded, but the central mountain does not rise high enough 
to possess a fauna distinct from that of the lower land; the 
only two species peculiar to the mountainous district are 
Nectarinia thomensis and Oriolus crassirostris. 
After a montlTs work on San Thome I chartered a small 
Portuguese steamer which took me to Annabon. This is a 
very beautiful little island, and from a geographical point of 
view is quite unique in having a fine lake in the crater of its 
volcano at an altitude of over 1000 feet. It is thickly 
wooded, and one would have thought it a perfect paradise for 
birds; but apart from Terpsiphone newtoni, Zosterops griseo- 
virens, Scops fece, and Turturoena malherbii, there was nothing 
more to be found. I could not discover the new Haplopelia 
described by Salvadori. After leaving Annabon I went to 
Principe, where I made a very interesting collection. You 
will be surprised to hear that the Parrot on that island is 
quite distinct from Psittacus erithacus —in fact I might 
almost describe it as a black Parrot. I am sending home 
the description of it, and propose to call it P. princeps *. 
Even when on the wing to a careful observer it appears very 
much darker than P. erithacus. The natives also recognise 
it as being distinct. I have a good series of adult birds, 
and the characters remain constant. This Parrot appears to 
be decreasing very much. Keulemans in his day (1867) 
reckoned them by thousands, but at the piesent time they 
could hardly be told by the hundred. The forest portion 
of the island, which is their stronghold, is being rapidly 
converted into cocoa-plantations, while the planters shoot a 
* [It is described under that name in Bull. B. 0. C. vol. xxiii. p. 74 
(1909).— Edds.] 
