SPECIAL JUBILEE MEETING. 



The study of Nature, aud of Birds in particular_, lias 

 always had a special fascination for rae^ but it has been in 

 the careful observation of their habits, far more than in the 

 examination and. classification of them at home, that I have 

 experienced the greatest enjoyment. 



Although Ornithology as a pastime is one of immense 

 interest, increasing our love of nature and quickening our 

 powers of observation, it should not be forgotten that it at 

 the same time provides an excellent school for the study 

 of evolution. It was in 1858, or the same year as the 

 fouudation of the British Ornithologists' Union, that the 

 paper of Darwin and Wallace, first promulgating the theory 

 of evolution, appeared in the Journal of the Linnean Society. 

 TJiis was followed by the publication of the ' Origin of 

 Species' by Darwin in November 1859. I can well 

 remember the commotion it caused, not only in the 

 scientific W'Orld, but amongst all classes. The theory was 

 violently opposed on all sides, except by a very few of 

 Darwin^s most intimate friends, amongst whom the names 

 of Hooker and Huxley stand out pre-eminently as its 

 champions. The new faith however grew, very slowly at first, 

 but gradually it gained more adherents. Now, the idea 

 that species are fixed, or unchaugeable has passed away, a 

 new era has set in ; and though the process of evolution is 

 extremely slow, we see before us at evei'y turn, that change 

 is constantly going on. As an example of this it has been 

 recently pointed out that even in our own Island several of 

 tiie birds which have hitherto been considered identical 

 with their continental representatives, prove on close exami- 

 nation to be slightly different. In Central and South 

 America, countries to which I have paid special attention, 

 we find these differences still more clearly marked, and in 

 many districts there is a slightly modified or represen- 

 tative form of bird, while this equally applies to all classes 

 of animals. These difl:erences are frequently very slight, 

 but they are for the most part constant in the areas where 

 they exist, and are sufficient to enable us to distinguish 

 the various forms with certainty. It is this discovery Avhich 



