Obituary. 465 



active member of the Alpine Club^ and contributed several 

 valuable papers to the ' Alpine Journal/ among which vie 

 may mention an account of his travels in Corsica in the 

 spring of 1866, as containing much interesting matter to 

 naturalists. Mr. Hawker died, after a short illness, on the 

 26th of May last, at the early age of forty -six years. 



Commander Rowland Money Sperling, of the Royal 

 Navy, became a Member of the British Ornithologists' 

 Union in 1867. Being a keen ornithologist, he availed 

 liimself of the scanty opportunities afforded him by his 

 official duties, of collecting and observing the birds that 

 came under his notice during his cruises in difiFerent parts 

 of the world. The results w^ere communicated to this 

 Journal. In 1864 he published a paper entitled " Some 

 account of an Oruithologist^s Cruise in the Mediterranean. '^ 

 This contains some good notes on the migration and habits of 

 many European birds. When acting- commander of H.M.S. 

 ' Racoon,^ he gathered the materials for another paper, which 

 was published in our volume for 1868. His cruising- ground 

 on this occasion was the south-eastern shores of Africa, from 

 the Cape of Good Hope to Zanzibar, and included also a visit 

 to the " wide-awake fair," on the island of Ascension. In 

 this paper the Procellariidag of those seas came in for a con- 

 siderable share of attention. Sperling^s last communication 

 was published in the form of a letter in 1872. A visit to the 

 island of Tristan d^Acunha is here related, and also a few 

 notes made during an excursion on the Rio de la Plata. 



These papers show that the routine of a sailor's life admits 

 of much useful ornithological work being accomplished. We 

 wish we could number more followers in a service where many 

 officers enjoy equal, if not greater, opportunities for pursuing 

 our favourite science. 



Edward Hlyth, who died in London in December 1873, 

 at the age of sixty-three, was a naturalist of no ordinary 

 type. Though to the readers of 'The Ibis' his name will 

 be chiefly known in its connexion with ornithology, birds by 



SER. III. VOL. IV. 2 K 



