THE IBIS. 



THIRD SERIES. 



No. XVII. JANUARY 1875. 



I. — Cruise of the ' Zara,' R. Y. S., in the Mediterranean. ^ 

 By Lord Lilford. 



It is so long since I have written any thing for this Journal, 

 that I fear that many Members of the B.O.U., more espe- 

 cially those lately elected, may consider that the President is 

 a myth, who never appears at the Annual Meetings, and 

 merely exists as a sort of conventional fiction. I resume the 

 pen, then, partly to assure such Ibises that I have a real ex- 

 istence, and, though latterly prevented by illness from attend- 

 ing the Annual Meetings of our Society, that my interest in 

 the said Society is in no way diminished, and my ardour for 

 ornithology very much augmented. I hope I may be forgiven 

 for saying this much entirely about myself; but I really feel 

 that, before recording the few following facts, some kind of 

 introduction is becoming, although not strictly necessary, on 

 my part. Since I last wrote in this Journal, I have visited 

 Spain, the country of my predilection, three times ; but al- 

 though, on two of these occasions, I had fair ornithological 

 success in Andalucia, that district has been so much more 

 thoroughly explored by my friend Colonel Irby, to whose 



SER. III. VOL. V. B 



