SPECIAL JUBILEE MEETING. 6 



was prevented from carrying out his intention of enter- 

 taining ns there again, and of giving us a hearty 

 welcome at tlie same University which gave birth to the 

 Society. 



I will not enter on the history of the foundation of the 

 Union, for this will be much better treated presently by 

 our Editor, Dr. Sclater, who has giA'cn special attention to 

 the subject, but I shall, in the few remarks I am about to 

 make, pass on to consider the growth that tlie Science of 

 Ornithology has made since the inauguration of the British 

 Ornithologists^ Union, which has been in no small measure 

 due to the enterprise of its members. 



During the fifty years of its existence, I find that some- 

 thing like 1800 original papers on birds have been 

 published in ' The Ibis,^ the result for the most part of 

 expeditions made, chiefly by members of the Union, to 

 nearly all parts of the world. In addition, a vast amount of 

 articles have appeared in other periodicals, amongst which 

 may be specially mentioned the Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society of London, to say nothing of numerous other works, 

 including the fine Monographs on families of birds, which 

 have been published separately, such as Gould's ' Trogons,^ 

 Sclater's ^Jacamars,' Shelley's "^ Sun-birds,^ Sharpe's 'King- 

 fishers/ and ' Swallows," &c. The subject, however, is by no 

 means exhausted, though it every day becomes more difficult 

 to find new ground to explore. 



If British Ornithologists have been busily engaged in 

 their favourite pursuit, our Colleagues abroad have been 

 equally industrious, and have added enormously to the 

 general stock of knowledge. Of their publications I may 

 first mention the German Ornithological Society, with its 

 organ the ' Journal fiir Ornithologie,' a book no worker 

 on birds can afford to be without. It was commenced in 

 1852, or six years before 'The Ibis,' and has been continued 

 ever since. Perhaps the Society next in importance is the 

 American Ornithologists^ Union, with its quarterly Joiirnal 

 ' The Auk,' a most valuable work chiefly devoted to the 

 birds of its own Continent. In addition, there are several 



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