Occasional JS^otes. 21 



" Dr. Bowdler Sliarpe's principal work lay in ornithology, 

 in which subject he worked more as an editor and classifier 

 than as a field observer. Of the monumental catalogue of 

 birds in the British Museum in 27 volumes, he was respon- 

 sible for the greater part ; the first four volumes of the 

 ' Hand-List of Birds ' were also his work; while with Dresser 

 in 1871 he began the publication of the ' Birds of Europe/ 

 one of the completest works of its kind, which was finished 

 by his collaborator in eight volumes in 1879. Among other 

 works on ornithology are his monographs on Kingfishers, 

 Swallows, and Birds of Paradise. The first of these, on the 

 family of Kingfishers, published 40 years ago, at once brought 

 a reputation to its youthful author, and described 125 species 

 of the Alcedinidse, grouped into 19 genera and divided into 

 two subfamilies, Alcedininse and Daceloninse. Among other 

 works Dr. Sharpe edited Allen's ' Natural History ' and 

 White's ' Natural History of Selborne,' to which he was 

 enabled to add, as he explained in his preface, a good deal of 

 matter of interest to lovers of Gilbert White, having spent 

 some weeks in Selborne for the purpose." 



VII. — Occasional Notes. 



1. Dr. Otto Herman, of the Royal Hungarian Bureau of 

 Ornithology, and Mr. J. A. Allen, of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, desire to thank the Members of the 

 S. A. 0. U. for the honour conferred upon them at the 

 Bloemfontein meeting;. 



2. The Hon. Secretary has received a letter from the 

 Hon. Sec. of the " East Africa and Uganda Natural History 

 Society " (in reply to one from him), welcoming the idea to 

 collaborate in the important matter of Bird Migration. It is 

 only when the link between North and South is more or less 

 complete that we can hope for certain knowledge as to the 

 actual movements of the Northern migrants. 



