PREFACE. 



The Editors cannot allow the first volume of the 

 Eighth Series of ' The Ibis ' to be brought to a close 

 without takuig the opportunity of thanking their 

 many contributors for the constant support given to 

 them. It will be observed that the present volume 

 is of ample dimensions, and yet it has been necessary 

 to defer the publication of more than one important 

 paper owing to want of space, while several others 

 are already promised for the immediate future. 



In truth, the very increase in the articles, grati- 

 fying though it undoubtedly is, forms a matter for 

 serious consideration. The welfare of such a 

 Journal as this naturally depends upon the commu- 

 nications that it receives, and the Editors would not 

 wish them to be less by a single paper ; at the same 

 time they feel a certain anxiety, which they beUeve 

 is shared by many other Ornithologists, at the gradual 

 augmentation in bulk of the annual volume. It 

 would be to the mutual advantage of all authors if 



they would compress their information as far as is 



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