38 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 



to five copies, at £1 each, iu lieu of an equivalent amount 

 of his subscription. On this resolution being carried, 

 19 Members of the Union at once put down their names 

 for five copies each. 



Mr. Salvin undertook the preparation of the Index, 

 in -which task he was kindly helped by Mrs. Strickland, 

 Mrs. Salvin, Miss Salvin, Mrs. Howard Saunders, and 

 Mr. Alfred Rogers, of the University Library, Cambridge. 



The General Index to the first three Series of ' The Ibis ' 

 was completed and published in 1879. 



At the same meeting, also, the project of a new List of 

 British Birds was first brought forward. After consultation 

 with some of my fellow-workers, I proposed that a Committee 

 should be appointed to draw up, for the use of the writers in 

 ' The Ibis,^ a List of British Birds, in accordance with the 

 most approved principles of modern nomenclature. This 

 proposal was agreed to, and the following seven members of 

 the Union were requested to serve on the Committee, A'iz. the 

 two Editors of ' The Ibis ' (Salvin and Sclater), F. D. Godman 

 (then Secretary of the Union), Dresser, Prof. Newton, 

 Seebohm, and Henry Wharton; but Professor Newton 

 subsequently excused himself from joining the Committee. 

 The first meeting of this Committee was held on June 4'tli, 

 1878, when Sclater was elected Chairman, and Wharton 

 Secretary and General Editor. At a subsequent meeting of 

 the Committee, Howard Saunders and R. Bowdler Sharpe 

 were invited to join us. Altogether seventy-one meetings 

 of the Committee were held, the etymology of the names 

 adopted having been entrusted entirely to Henry Wharton, 

 who was an excellent classical scholar. 



The result of this plan was the well-known List of British 

 Birds published by Van Voorst for the Union in 1883, and 

 generally used by writers in ' The Ibis ' ever since. 



The second volume of the Fourth Series of ' The Ibis " 

 (edited by Salvin and myself) contained 508 pages, illus- 

 trated by 12 plates, mostly executed by Keulemans and Smit. 

 In it will be found several good papers by Lord Tweeddale, 

 Lavard and his son (who were at that time resident in New 



