PREFACE. 



The fifth and last volume of the ' Hand-list of the Genera and 

 Species of Birds ' was almost the last publication of the late 

 Dr. Richard Bowdler Sharpe, whose death occurred on Christmas 

 Day, 1909, about three months after its appearance. It is 

 fortunate that Dr. Sharpe was able to see the completion of 

 the ' Hand-list,' which, it is believed, has proved of material 

 service to Ornithologists ; and there is some satisfaction in 

 remembering that he did not leave in an unfinished state a 

 work which formed a fitting termination to a long period of 

 distinguished service. 



It may not be without interest to state that Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe assumed the charge of the Ornithological Collection in 

 1S72, as the successor of George Robert Gray. According to 

 an estimate which he himself put in writing, some nine months 

 before his death, the collection of Birds in the Museum then 

 consisted of about 30,000 specimens ; while at the time he wrote 

 he believed it to consist of about 500,000 skins and eggs. It is 

 mainly owing to his unwearied efforts that so large a proportion 

 of the species mentioned in this Index are available for study in 

 the Museum. 



