°' g J Australasian Ornithologists' Union. I 25 



I attended Section IV., and heard an interesting paper by Mr. 

 T. Digby Piggott — " The Present State of the Law for the Protec- 

 tion of Birds in Great 3ritain " ; and one from Sir John Cockburn — 

 " Bird Legislation in Australia." On the latter one I spoke, giving 

 a vesumcoi what is being done regarding bird protection in Tasmania, 

 and threw light on some points raised by Sir John. 



In Section I. the following papers were read and discussed : — 

 By Count von Berlepsch, " On New Neotropical Birds," and " The 

 Species of the Genus Elainea " ; by Dr. R. Blasius, " Vortheile 

 und Nachtheile moderner Arten — und Unterarten Beschreibung und 

 Namengebung " ; by Dr. Louis Bureau, " La Sterne de Dougall." 

 For some reason Section II. did not transact any business. In the 

 evening a social gathering was held at Earl's Court — by courtesy 

 of the Directors of the London Exhibitions Limited — an enjoyable 

 time was spent. There were no sectional meetings on Wednesday 

 morning, the time being very fully occupied at a general meeting, 

 listening to some interesting papers. Time did not allow of all 

 those set down to be read that morning. Those listed were : — 

 Mr. F. M. Chapman, " What Constitutes a Museum Collection of 

 Birds " ; Dr. Paul Leverkiihn, " Aasgeier und Kaiseradler um 

 Horst " ; Herr Otto Herman, " Stand der Ornithologie in Ungarn " ; 

 Dr. J. Dwight, jun., " Some Phases of Wear in Feathers " ; Herr 

 Otto Herman, " Recensio Critica Automatica of the Doctrine of 

 Bird Migration " ; Mr. Henry Scherrin, " The First Bird List of 

 Eber and Peucer (1549), ^''^'i i^s Relation to the 'Avium .... 

 Historia' of Turner." Of those taken, the most interesting was 

 that of Mr. Chapman, who told us, and illustrated his remarks by 

 lantern slides, what was done in his (the New York) Museum with 

 the bird collection. It would be hardly possible for a more useful, 

 scientifically correct, and educational system to be in vogue any- 

 where. One thing that commended itself to me was that in addition 

 to the collection of birds found in New York and its environs, there 

 was one that was changed month by month, showing what birds 

 were to be found about New York each month. Small cases of 

 specimens are loaned out to schools for educational purposes. 



In the afternoon Sections I. and III. sat. At the first-named 

 Mr. W. P. Pycraft read an interesting paper on " Nestling Birds, 

 and their Bearing upon the Question of Evolution," the conclusion 

 he arrived at being that at one time all birds were arboreal in their 

 habits. The Rev. Ernesto Schmitz read a paper, " On the Birds 

 of Madeira," and Count von Berle})sch one entitled " Notes on 

 Tyrannidae." In Section III., which embraced Biology, Nidifi- 

 cation, and Oology, Mr. F. M. Chapman read two most entertaining 

 papers — one " A Contribution to the Life-History of the American 

 Flamingo," and the other " A Contribution to the Life-History of 

 the Brown Pelican," both illustrated by lantern slides. Dr. R. 

 Blasius took " Die Pyrenaen und ihre Vogelwelt." The Rev. C. R. 

 Jourdain was to have si)oken on " Erythrism in Eggs," but time 

 did not allow, so this subject came on at one of the subsequent 

 meetings. 



