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Show 374 MR. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE [June 16, Mr. Sclater read an extract from a letter addressed to him by Dr. H.Bolau, C.M.Z.S., Director of the Zoological Garden, Hamburg, and dated Hamburg, June 8th. In reply to inquiries Dr. Bolau stated that there were now two examples of Sea-Eagles referred to Haliaetus pelagicus living in the Hamburg Garden. One of these, received as a present from a ship-captain, December 12th, 1882, had been brought from Amoor-land ; the second, received on February 6th, 1887, had been presented by another captain, who had obtained it in Corea. The first-named bird was in full plumage and had a large white shoulder-spot, a white tail, and white thighs, as represented by Pallas (' Zoographia,' i. p. 343). But the specimen from Coren, although now more than four years in the Garden, had not changed in colour. Its tail was white, but the shoulders and thighs showed no traces of this colour, being of a brownish black like the rest of the body. This bird was also larger than that from Amoor-land and had a stronger bill. Dr. Bolau suggested that the Corean bird might be a large female of H. pelagicus, which had not obtained the adult coloration on account of its being kept in captivity ; but Mr. Sclater pointed out that it was undoubtedly the same bird as had been described by Taczanowski in his article on the birds of Corea (P. Z. S. 1888, p. 452) as Haliaetus branickii, and was a specimen of very great interest, as tending to confirm this somewhat problematical species. The only previously known example of H. branickii, upon which the species had been based, had been obtained by the Polish collector Kalinowski at Tsempion, on the coast of Corea, in February 1888. But Kalinowski had stated that he had seen other similar birds in the same country. Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.Z.S., gave a verbal account of the proceedings of the recent International Ornithological Congress at Budapest in which he had taken part. The following papers were read :- 1. A Contribution to the Knowledge of the Races of Rana esculenta and their Geographical Distribution. By G. A. BOULENGER. [Received M a y 26, 1891.] It is now a well-known fact that the Edible Frog, Rana esculenta, presents a greater amount of variation, both as regards structure and colour, than perhaps any other species of Batrachians. Any herpeto-logist having before him the Japanese and Spanish Frogs, without 1 I wish to remark on this occasion that the current notion that the flesh of this Frog is more valued than that of its European congeners is entirely erroneous. The Frogs sold in the markets of Paris, Brussels, and Geneva are almost invariably Rana temporaria, which ave commoner and more easily caught. |