56 BKHISH HIHDS [vol. ix. 



Piiffinus assimilii baroH. 

 Ronaparte's Puffinus baroli was not based only on specimens, but 

 evidently on the notes made by Bonaparte during his travels in various 

 museums, and liis diagnosis does not agree. If a diagnosis agrees in 

 the main and disagrees in one detail (as in the case of the Gull-lHlled 

 Tern), and if we are sure what was really meant, this is quite a 

 different matter to a diagnosis disagreeing in the main character, as 

 is the case in Bonaparte's Pufflnus baroli ; in the latter the description 

 of the colour applies to about twenty Petrels, and tlie measurements 

 are all-important. They disagree, and for this and other reasons 

 fully stated in Brit. B., VIII., p. 282, anlea, it is unwise to accept the 

 name baroli for the bird we called PulJinus assimilis godmani. 



E. Hartkrt. 



THE LATE CECIL .AL DYER. 



Cecil Maomillan Dyer, who was killed in action in Flanders 

 on April 8th, was horn at Oxford on January 17th, 1S94, 

 and educated at CUifton and at Christ's (^ollege, Cambridge, 

 where he had just completed his second j'ear of residence 

 when war broke out. He at once vohuiteered for the Special 

 Reserve, got a commission in the Rifle Brigade, and went 

 out to France with the 4th Battalion in December. He 

 went through much hard fighting, especially at St. Kloi 

 about the middle of March. He was shot through the head 

 while on duty in the trenches. Mr. Dyer began to take an 

 interest in birds while still a boy, and ])ursued his observations 

 actively at C'lifton. When he went u}) to Cambridge, where 

 he was working for the Natural Science Tri]ios, he soon got 

 into touch with other naturalists there, and helped to organize 

 a scheme for recording the nesting-habits of the birds of 

 that part of Cambridgeshire. Mr. A. H. Evans, under 

 whose guidance the scheme Avas drawn u]). descril)es Mr. Dyer 

 as a very accurate observer, and there is little doubt tliat 

 had his life been spared he would have made valuable 

 c()ntril)uti()ns to ornithology. He was elected a member of 

 the British Ornithologists' Union in 1!II4. (J. A. M. 



