Vlll MEMOIR. 



Lagopns rupestris and Charadrius fulvus ; besides numbers of 

 interesting notes on other rare Palaearctic birds. The above are 

 some of the most important of the notes recorded by Seebohm, 

 as a result of his Siberian expedition. 



The interest which he felt in Thrushes and Warblers had, in 

 1879, induced him to accept the offer made by Dr. Giinther, the 

 keeper of the Zoological Department of the British Museum, to 

 undertake the fifth volume of our " Catalogue of Birds," dealing 

 with Turdidce and Sylviidce. By this time Seebohm had left 

 Sheffield and had come to reside in London, and was gradually 

 preparing for the publication of the work he had most at heart, 

 his "History of British Birds." 



As regards Seebohm's volume of the "Catalogue," it was 

 splendidly worked out, and is to this day the standard authority 

 on the Turdidce and Sylviidce. At this date, 1881, he first shewed 

 his proclivity towards trinomial nomenclature, a system which 

 he ultimately adopted in its fullest sense; but his trinomialism 

 was not the trinomialism of the present day, for he only employed 

 it in cases where be believed that two species intermingled. Thus 

 Monticola cyanus and M. solitaria were species, but interbred, 

 and the hybrids or connecting links were M. cyanus solitaria 

 (p. 318). 



In 1880, Seebohm paid another visit to Valkensvaard, but he 

 was principally occupied in the preparation of the British Museum 

 ' Catalogue,' and published but one paper on " Corrections of 

 Synonymy in the Family Sylviidce " (" Ibis," 1880, pp. 273—279). 

 an essay full of valuable notes and corrections. In 1881 the fifth 

 volume of the " Catalogue of Birds " was published. 



It should be mentioned that in 1879 he purchased the Swinhoe 

 collection of Chinese birds, and this acquisition and his travels in 

 Siberia led him to extend his studies into a wider area. The 

 possession of the Swinhoe collection greatly extended his ideas 

 of work, and he conceived the project of writing a history of 

 the " Birds of China," and for this purpose he purchased several 

 collections from China and Japan. 



Meanwhile, however, his work, the " History of British Birds," 

 was proceeding apace, and he was continually spending a portion 

 of each year in personally collecting materials on the Continent. 

 In May, 1882, he was in Brunswick and Pomerania, and in this 



