INTEREST IN IBIS 69 



as the " Sacred Ibis " or the " Great Gun of Durham." 

 He was during all his life an indefatigable collector, and 

 his birds and eggs, almost the largest collection ever 

 amassed by one man, are now in the Liverpool and 

 South Kensington Museums. 



I saw a long letter from Tristram to Sclater from 

 Jerusalem, in which he says they have done wonders. 

 If all he advances is true they must have got some twenty 

 new species of birds.* Among other things he has found 

 the descendants of the Ravens that fed Elijah, and they 

 are previously undescribed except by the author of the 

 Book of Kings. In future they are to stand as Corvus 

 ElicB, Tristram. I have only to hope that Asinus 

 halaami and Cetus joncB will also be found. f 



After the end of his term of office as editor of the 

 Ibis Newton no longer took an active part in managing 

 the affairs of the B.O.U., but his interest in the Society 

 never failed, though he disapproved of certain modern 

 innovations, and his advice was constantly sought by 

 successive editors of the Journal. There were times 

 when it appeared that the editors had not very carefully 

 read the articles they published, and these occasional 

 lapses seldom escaped him : — 



The Ibis for the past year has certainly been dis- 

 tinguished by some crackers. It was only yesterday I 

 heard from Legge, who drew my attention to a curious 

 statement at p. 143 : — 



" On the top of trees in Celebes," says Meyer, " builds the Whimbrel." 

 Then De Meyer is a I — r : proclaim it with a timbrel ! 



It was unfortunate that he would never be persuaded 

 to approve of the British Ornithologists' Club, which was 



* One of the birds discovered on that journey was Tristram's Grakle 

 {Amydrus tristrami), which he found in the rocky gorges of the Dead Sea. 

 t Letter to Edward Newton, March 25, 1864. 



