The second collection is that formed hy the late Marquess of 

 Tweeddale and bequeathed by him to Capt. E. G. Wardlaw Ramsay, 

 •who has noAV deposited it in the British Museum. The value of this 

 collection for the "British Museum consists chiefly of the Birds 

 obtained in countries of Asia beyond the limits of the British 

 Empire ; it thus supplements in most important points the Hume 

 collection, and it is calculated that, after the elimination of dupli- 

 cates, some 25,000 specimens -will be added to the British Museum. 



The removal of the Natural History Department into a new 

 and more commodious building has no doubt had much to do with 

 the almost simultaneous accession of collections for the reception of 

 ■which there would not have been room in the old building. But 

 the chief causes by which the donors of these magnificent col- 

 lections were moved to deposit them in the National Museum 

 are to be sought in the scrupulous care bestowed on the preservation 

 of the specimens as well as in the rigorous adherence by the 

 Trustees to the principle of rendering them subservient to scientific 

 use as far as this is compatible with safe custody. 



I believe a ' Catalogue ' like the present to be the best instrument 

 for attaining this latter object. It renders necessary a thorough 

 examination of the specimens, and communicates the results of 

 such examination to studeuts in every part of the Globe ; whilst by 

 the carefully compiled lists of the specimens their orderly arrange- 

 ment is secured, and their existence in the Museum permanently 

 placed on record, so that the loss of any of them could not fail 

 to be discovered. Ornithologists will therefore learn with great 

 satisfaction that H.M. Treasury has recently sanctioned proposals 

 by which the progress of this work will be much accelerated. 



ALBERT GUNTHER. 



Zoological Department, 

 Jan., 1888. 



