Letters, Announcements, ^c. 91 



was not adopted. It is to be feared, from what we hear, that 

 scientific research forms but a very secondary object in the pro- 

 gramme of this expedition. Still all who have engaged in it 

 have our best wishes for success. If the road to the Pole can 

 be but shown, we are sure ornithologists will not be slow in 

 following it. 



The best friends of 'The Ibis^ have not been limited to those 

 whose names have appeared oftenest, or even many times, in its 

 pages. In this country ornithology has many of its warmest 

 supporters among men who scarcely ever published a line on this 

 subject. Such an one was Edward Clough Newcome, an 

 original Member of the B. 0. U., who died on the 22nd of Sep- 

 tember last, having nearly completed his sixty-second year. 

 Devotedly attached from his boyhood to field-sports, and having 

 abundant opportunities for their enjoyment, his undoubted 

 preference was for such as brought him more especially into 

 contact with the wilder and less-known kinds of birds ; and 

 being a close and accurate observer, his knowledge of their 

 habits and peculiarities was of extraordinary extent. As an 

 efficient falconer he was, perhaps, unequalled, whether by profes- 

 sionals or amateurs ; and for many years he was, in England, 

 almost the sole and certainly the most influential supporter of 

 that ancient and nearly obsolete sport. In the pursuit of what 

 are ordinarily termed "wild fowl,^^ and in the exercise of the 

 various modes by which they are procured, he had attained an 

 aptitude little, if at all, inferior to that of men whose livelihood 

 depends on the successful pi*actice of their vocation. But expe- 

 rience in the field was not all :• one of his fav ourite employments 

 was the formation of a collection of British birds; and this, con- 

 sisting almost entirely of specimens preserved and set up by his 

 own hands, remains one of the best of its kind in the kingdom, 

 whether for the completeness and rarity of its contents or for the 

 artistic taste and ornithological truth with which they are mounted. 

 Some of the species in it are represented by the only examples 

 supposed to have been obtained in Britain. Such are the Rock- 

 Thrush [Petrocmcla saxatilis). the Capped Petrel {^Estrelata 



