BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



91 



A resolution was passed recording the deep 

 regret of the Council at the death of Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, and their sense of the great loss the 

 Society has thus sustained. 



The General Purposes Committee reported 

 the resignation of Miss M. E. Ruston, Hon. Sec. 

 for Lincoln, and the appointment in her place of 

 Miss Blathwayt ; also the death of Mrs. Stracey, 

 Hon. Sec. for Loughborough, and the appointment 

 of Mrs. Gower as Hon. Sec. for Berkhamsted, and 

 Mr. H. Beeston, for Havant. Mrs. W. A. Cardwell, 

 The Moat Croft, Eastbourne, Mr. Philip H. Bahr, 

 Perrysfield House, Oxted, and Mr. Conrad Russell, 

 Audley Square, London, W., were elected Fellows 

 of the Society, and the following 15 Members were 

 elected : C. Allingham (Reigate), Lt. -Colonel 

 Bashford (Liss), Madame Berlein (Berkhamsted), 

 J. F. Ballard (Hamilton, Canada), Mrs. Foster 

 (Felton), Right Rev. Bishop Harrison (Thorpe 

 Morieux), Miss E. Harrison (Reigate), Mrs. E. C. 

 P. Hull (Redhill), Rev. Claude Hinsclift (Bickley), 

 Miss Kerr (Cheltenham), Mrs. Kirkwood (Peters- 

 field), H. C. Merrielees (Ontario, Canada), Mrs. 

 Ouless (London), Lady Beatrice Rawson (Bolney), 

 Edgar Rollason (London). 



General Business. — The several matters con- 

 sidered by the Council included the protection of 

 the Birds-of-paradise ; the better protection of rare 

 birds in England ; the proposed Gold Medal Com- 

 petition ; and the arrangements for the Society's 

 Annual Meeting. 



OBITUARY. 

 The death of Mr. Howard Saunders, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., has caused widespread regret in 

 the scientific world and a gap in ornithological 

 circles which it will be hard indeed to fill. Not 

 least among the many societies to which he 

 belonged will his loss be felt by The Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds, of which he was an old 

 and most valued friend and adviser. He joined 

 the Council of the Society in 1902, and was a 

 member of the Publication and Watchers' Com- 

 mittees ; and those who know anything of his 

 work and his life need not be told that the work 

 he undertook in this respect, as in all others, was 

 carried out in no half-hearted or perfunctory 

 manner. He was a regular attendant at its meet- 

 ings until within a very short time of his death ; 

 ever ready with information and counsel, and a 

 careful reader of the proof-sheets of all its publica- 

 tions. Among scientific workers he was noted for 

 his scrupulous accuracv. " Saunders," it was 



commonly said, " never makes a mistake," and his 

 most widely-known work, the "Manual of British 

 Birds '' went far to bear out the testimony. " It 

 was indeed," comments the Times (October 22nd, 

 1907) "a remarkable achievement in condensation 

 of facts, for in it he set himself the formidable 

 task of compressing within the limits of a page and 

 a half of letterpress a perfect description of plumage, 

 occurrence, habits and range of each species. The 

 accuracy and completeness of its statements upon 

 geographical distribution would alone give a 

 singular value to these short paragraphs." The 

 most laborious work of his life was his section 

 upon Cavias in the British Museum Catalogue, and 

 he was also an authority upon the birds of the 

 Spanish Peninsula ; while much of the literature 

 of English county ornithology passed through his 

 hands for revision. Mr. Saunders, who suffered 

 from a long and painful illness but retained to the 

 last a clear and unclouded brain, died on October 

 20th, aged 72. At his funeral at Kensal Green on 

 the 23rd, the R.S.P.B. was represented by 

 Mr. F. E. Lemon, Hon. Sec, Mr. H. E. Dresser 

 and Mr. Meade-Waldo, members of the Council. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Feathered Game of the >,'orth-East. — By 

 Walter H. Rich. With S7 illustrations. A compre- 

 hensive work on the Game Birds of New England, for 

 the sportsman and ornithologist, discountenancing "the 

 reckless and needless slaughter by those whose ambition 

 it is to make a record killing."' New York: T. Y. 

 Crowell & Co. Three dollars net. 



Pictures from Nature's Garden. — By H. W. 

 Shepheard-Walwyn, M.A. With 78 illustrations. A 

 reprint of stories from the Animal World and other 

 papers. London : John Long. 6s. 



The Minimising of Maurice. — By the Rev. S. N. 

 Sedgwick, M.A. With 36 photographs from Nature. 

 The adventures of a small boy, grown magically smaller, 

 among small creatures. London: Elliot Stock. 5s. net. 



Home-Life of Marsh-Birds. — Photographed and 

 described by E. L. Turner and P. H. Bahr. Miss 

 Turner's records of Grebes, Bearded Tits, and Warblers 

 on the Norfolk Broads; with chapters by Mr. Bahr on 

 a Scottish Gull colony, the Red-throated Diver, and the 

 Snipe. London : Witherby ..Y Co. 2s. 6d. net. 



Gilbert Whj 1 e i >i Selborne. — By W. II. Mullens, 



M.A. Reprint of a Lecture delivered before the Hastings 

 and St. Leonard's .Natural History Society. London: 

 Witherby & Co. 2s. 6d. net. 



THE STORY OF SCRAGGl BS (a Sparrow). — By George 

 W. James. Illustrated. The story *.>( an .American 

 song-sparrow among its human friends. London: 

 Chatto & YYindus. 2s. 6d. 



Michigan Audubon Society: its Work and 

 Aims. — By Jefferson Butler. With coloured and other 

 Illustrations. Audubon Society of California. 

 First Annual Report. 



