4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



other Journals devoted to our branch of science, which 

 treat chiefly of the birds of the various countries to which 

 they severally belong : amongst them ai-e '^ Aquila/ the organ 

 of the Hungarian Society, 'The Emu,' of the Australian 

 Ornithologists' Union, ' The Condor,' of the Cooper Orni- 

 thological Club of California, and others which I need not 

 mention, as I have given sufficient instances to shew the 

 activity which prevails. When, in 1872, Dr. R. Bowdler 

 Sharpe succeeded George Gray in the Bird Department of 

 the British Museum, there were about 30,000 stuffed birds 

 and bird-skins in that Institution, and many of these (as 

 some of us can well remember) were set up in the most 

 grotesque manner. Few had exact locality-labels, whilst 

 others had none at all, and in some cases specimens were 

 simply marked " The Indies," but whether from the East 

 or West was left to the student to decide. The number 

 of specimens now in the National Collection is. Dr. Sharpe 

 tells me, about 500,000, or sixteen times as many as there 

 were tliirty-six years ago. 



Again, 1 find in the first Volume of the ' Zoological 

 Record,' which was published in 1864, that 120 papers on 

 Ornithology were enumerated for the previous year, while 

 on turning to that for 1907 there are no less than 1760, 

 or fifteen times as many as there were thirty-three years 

 earlier. These two instances will give some idea of the 

 progress Ornithology has made since the foundation of the 

 British Ornithologists' Union. 



Perhaps few things have conduced more to advance our 

 science in this covmtry than the establishment of the 

 British Ornithologists' Club, which, though not approved 

 by some of our leading members at its outset, has never- 

 theless been the means of frequently bringing together 

 those interested in the subject. The social gatherings are 

 well attended, and afford an opportunity both of exhibiting 

 specimens, and discussing various problems connected with 

 them. They have thus been the means of adding materially 

 to our knowledge, and have led to an increase in the number 

 of members of the Union itself. 



