PREFACE. 



The present volume, we venture to remind our 

 readers, is the last of the Seventh Series of ' The Ibis,' 

 and the forty-second of the entire work. We think 

 that the seven surviving Members of the small 

 company of friends who founded the British Ornith- 

 ologists' Union at Cambiidge, in 1858, may well 

 be satisfied with the results which have sprung from 

 their conference on that occasion. The Ordinary 

 Members of our Union are now no fewer than 

 three hundred and forty-four in number, while the 

 names of some of our most valued Contributors are 

 to be found in the highly representative lists of 

 our Honorary and Foreign Members, scattered all 

 over the civihzed w^orld. 



While thanking our friends and correspondents 

 most sincerely for their valuable aid, without which 

 ' The Ibis ' could not have been carried on, we may 

 call attention to the fact that at the last Annual 

 Meeting (see p. 528 of the present volume) it was 

 agreed that the Editors of the Eighth Series should 



