x ii MEMOIR. 



be made, as has been shewn by Dr. Stejneger in the "Auk " for 

 1891 (pp. 99 — 101), but otherwise the publication is one of the 

 most interesting of Seebohm's contributions. In fact the work 

 was soon rendered incomplete through the exertions of his own 

 collector, Hoist, who visited the Twin Islands of Japan, Tsu-sima, 

 and obtained some very interesting species of birds (Ibis, 1892, 

 pp. 87, 248,399; 1893, p. 47). 



In 1890 he had been negotiating with Herr. Gatke for the pur- 

 chase of his collection of Heligoland birds, and in the "Ibis" for 

 October of that year, the editor was able to announce that the 

 purchase had been completed, and that the collection was expected 

 forthwith to arrive in England. Heligoland had been ceded to 

 Germany shortly before, and it was argued that the latter country 

 ought to retain possession of a collection made on what was now 

 an integral portion of the German Empire. Thus, after some 

 correspondence, Seebohm was induced to forego his claim, the 

 money was returned to him, and Germany retained the Gatke 

 collection. How it has since been treated is set forth by Dr. 

 Hartlaub in the " Ornithologische Monatsericht " for 1894. 



It would have been better for the owner if he had allowed the 

 collection to come to the British Museum, to which Seebohm 

 meant to present it, and where, as all the birds were mounted, it 

 was intended to have exhibited them in a special case, as an 

 illustration of the avifauna of a great migration centre. 



In the "Ibis" for 1892, Seebohm gave a "list of the birds of 

 Heligoland as recorded by Herr Gatke." This was merely a 

 brief epitome of the occurrence of each species. This, with some 

 papers on the Birds of Tsu-sima, appears to have been all that he 

 wrote during the year 1892, but he was busy in other directions. 

 Still working at his "classification," he was anxious to see what 

 characters could be derived from a study of the eggs of birds, and 

 he proposed to the Trustees of the British Museum to arrange 

 the entire collection of eggs in that institution, and offered to 

 present the whole of his own series. Needless to say this gene- 

 rous proposal was gladly accepted, and the arrangement of the 

 eggs was completed; the work of cataloguing, labelling, and 

 placing them in order in the cabinets, being performed by my 

 daughter, Emily Mary Sharpe, under Seebohm's directions. When 

 completely set in order, the collection was found to contain over 



