BRITISH ornithologists' rxio>:. 45 



the papers I may call special attention to the List of the 

 Birds collected by the late W. A. Forbes during his fatal 

 expedition to the Niger^ prepared by Captain Shelley, and to 

 Forbes's last Journal which accompanies it. Forbes died 

 on the Niger near Shonga on the 14th of January, 1883. 



1884. 



In 1884 the Annual General Meeting of the B. O. U. 

 ■was held at 6 Tenterden Street, on the 21st of May. The 

 President (Lord Lilford) being absent through illness, 

 P. L. Sclater was voted to the Chair. The Eeport of the 

 Committee having been read, and the accounts examined 

 and passed, sixteen new Members vrere elected. The usual 

 Dinner was held in the evening, and was attended by about 

 thirty Members and guests. 



The second volume of the Fifth Series of ' The Ibis ' 

 (edited by Saunders and myself) contained 489 pages, 

 illustrated by 14 plates, mostly drawn by Keulemans. 

 Amongst the jjapers of special interest attention may be 

 called to Mr. Abel Chapman's '' Rough Notes on Spanish 

 Ornithology,'' wherein the first authentic description of the 

 nesting of the Flamingo in Southern Spain was published, 

 accompanied by sketches of the parent bird on the nest. 



1885. 



In 1885 the Annual General Meeting of the Union took 

 place at 6 Tenterden Street, where, in the absence of the 

 President from illness, P. L. Sclater was in the Chair. The 

 Report of the Committee gave a satisfactory account of the 

 finances at the close of the preceding year. More than half 

 the heavy debt caused by the publication of ' The Ibis List of 

 British Birds ' had been paid off. The accounts having been 

 passed, nine new Ordinary Memliers were elected. The 

 Annual Dinner was subsequently held at the Cafe Royal and 

 was attended by twenty-five Members and guests. 



The third volume of the Fifth Series of ' The Ibis' (1885) 

 contained 481 pages, illustrated by 1.2 plates, mostly executed 



