44 A SHORT HISTORY oT thl; 



by Keulemans and Smit. A paper by Mr. J. Whitehead 

 entitled " Ornithological Notes from Corsica '•" contains a 

 description (accompanied by excellent figures of the bird 

 and egg) of the remarkable Nutiiatch of which he Avas 

 the discoverer, and which AA'orthily bears his name. A 

 paper prepared by Salvin gives an account of the large 

 series of Birds ol)tained by Mr. Henry AVhitely in British 

 Guiana. 



1886. 



The Annual General Meeting of the B. O. U. in 1886 was 

 held at 6 Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, on May the 13th. 

 In the absence of the President, the Chair was occupied by 

 P. L. Sclater. The Committee reported that the Union main- 

 tained its usual prosperity and that the remainder of the debt 

 incurred through the publication of the List of British Birds 

 had been entirely liquidated, so that there was a balance in 

 liand, besides which the remaining stock of the List was an 

 asset that need not be lost sight of. The Report having been 

 adopted and the accounts passed, fifteen new Ordinary 

 ]Members were ballotted for and elected, besides which 

 Dr. Julius von Madanisz, of Buda-Pesth, was elected a 

 Foreign INIember, and Mr. Thomas Ayres, of Potchefstroom, 

 Transvaal, an Honorary Member. After the jNIeeting the 

 usual Dinner was held at the Cafe Royal, and was attended 

 by twenty-eight Members and guests. 



The volume of ' The Ibis' for 1886 (being the fourth of 

 the Fifth Series) contained 549 pages, illustrated by 1.2 plates, 

 mostly drawn by Keulemans. Amongst these is an excellent 

 figure of the Darter discovered by Canon Tristram breeding 

 on the Lake of Antioch, which is referred to PJutiis levaillanti. 

 The figure was taken from Tristram's Syrian specimen and 

 represents an adult bird iu full plumage. There is also a 

 figure of the fine Bird-of-Paradise [Paradisornis riulolphi), 

 to illustrate a paper by Doctors O. Finsch and A. B. Meyer 

 on " Some new Paradise-Birds.'^ 



