1 91 7-] Obitiiarij. 249 



Richard Jajjes Balstox. 



We regret to announce the deatli of Mr. R. J. Balston, of 

 Springfield near Maidstone, which took place on 7 December, 

 1916 ; lie had been a ^Member of the Union since 1889. 



Mr. Balston, who was the. eldest son of Richard E. P.. 

 Balston, was born at Maidstone 5 March, 1839, and was 

 educated at Eton. Entering the family business of paper 

 manufacturers, he was the head of the firm at his death, 

 and was well known as the originator of the celebrated. 

 "Whatman'^ paper. He was a yachtsman and a sportsman,, 

 and took great interest in agriculture and other county 

 interests, and served as High Sheriff of Kent in 189-1. 



He colhiborated with Mr. E. Bartlett and jMr. C. W. 

 Shepherd m the preparation of a work on the birds of 

 Kent, Avhich was published by Porter in 1907 and was 

 reviewed in our pages the following year (' Ibis,' 1908, 

 p. 175), and this, so far as we are aware, was his sole 

 venture in ornithological writing. 



Four years ago Mr. Balston presented to the Natural 

 History Museum at South Kensington a fine collection of 

 Humming-birds mounted for exhibition in cases. These 

 are now placed in the long passage running the length of 

 the Bird-gallery and giving access to the Reptile, Fish, and 

 Invertebrate exhibition-galleries of the Museum. 



Thomas Hudson Nelson. 

 By the death of Mr. Nelson', on 5 November last, York- 

 shire lost one of her foremost naturalists and the British 

 Ornithologists' Union a worthy member. Mr. Nelson was 

 born on 12 February, 1856, at Bishop Auckland in the 

 County of Durham (where his father was a prominent 

 citizen) and was elected a member of the Union in 1882. 

 He was of a singularly amiable disposition, and a most 

 excellent friend ; and he will be greatly missed by a large 

 circle of friends, to whom liis death came as a siirprise, 

 though he had long been in a delicate state of health. 

 As an ornithologist, he was best known as the author of 

 * The Birds of Yorkshire,' a work of great merit and one 



