332 Obituary. 



fine series of Paradise-birds^ consisting at that date of 368 

 specimens, to which no doubt many additions have been 

 since made. 



XXV. — Obituary. 



The Rev. Alfred Charles Smith, INI.A., who died on the 

 7th of December last, was one of the fourteen recipients of 

 the honour of Membership of the British Ornithologists' 

 Union in 1864-65, when the number was raised from twenty 

 to thirty-four Ordinary Members. At that time he was 

 Rector of Yatesbury, Wilts. His first important contribu- 

 tion to ' The Ibis ' seems to have been " A Sketch of the 

 Birds of Portugal" (1868, pp. 428-460), the first compendious 

 account of the avifauna of the western portion of the Penin- 

 sula, a region which differs widely from Spain in its natural 

 features. The list was reprinted, with additions by Prof. 

 Barboza du Bocage, in Mr. Smithes 'Narrative of a Spring 

 Tour in Portugal,^ a very pleasantly -written book ; as were, 

 indeed, all Mr. Smithes blends of travel, archseology, and 

 natural history. This agreeable mixture was especially 

 noticeable in his principal work, ' The Birds of Wiltshire/ 

 published in 1887, and noticed in our volume for 1888 

 (p. 370). His writings were not always severely scientific, 

 but they were very readable, and all who knew Mr. Smith 

 will regret the disappearance of one of the good old school 

 of genial naturalists. 



