496 Notes and Neirs.. [q^^ 



research. One unfamiliar with conditions in ornithology in this country 

 twenty-five years ago cannot appreciate the greatness of the change. 

 In consequence of this change the standards of admission to the higher 

 grades of membership, not only in the A. O. U., but in other scientific 

 societies with limited memberships, have also been raised. Twenty-five 

 years ago the number of what would now be considered expert ornitholo- 

 gists was very small, and men who would not now be considered eligible 

 to the present class of Members were accepted readily for the higher grade, 

 being then, without question, among the fiftj^ leading ornithologists of 

 America. 



It could not, however, be foreseen that men who were then promising 

 and enthusiastic students of birds would later become absorbed in some 

 other lines of research or that others had practically completed their 

 career as ornithologists. 



Aside from the purely honorary grades of membership, the American 

 Ornithologists' Union was originally divided into Members (now Fellows) 

 and Associates, the former limited to fifty, the latter numerically unlimited. 

 Fifty for the former, in which there has always been one or more vacancies, 

 seems still a reasonable limit, if membership in this class is to have any 

 significance. Since then a grade of Members, between Fellows and 

 Associates, has been established, limited to one hundred and, as in the 

 case of Fellows, this limitation carries its implied distinction, a distinction 

 which would be vague or wanting were the number unlimited. 



It is hardly just to apply present day standards to conditions that 

 prevailed a quarter of a century ago. Nor is the A. O. U. exceptional in 

 regard to the conditions about which Mr. Childs offers complaint. Exactly 

 the saiue conditions obtain in our owii National Academy of Sciences and 

 in Foreign Academies, where the candidates for membership far exceed 

 (sometimes by 75 per cent.) the vacancies, and greatly excel in scientific 

 attainments many who have long been honored members, and who were 

 the peers of their colleagues when elected. — Edd.] 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



J. V. Barboza du Bocage, an Honorary Member of the American 

 ■Ornithologists' Union, died recently at his home in Lisbon, at the age of 

 84 years. For many years he was Professor of Zoology in the Royal 

 Polytechnic Institute and Director of the National Zoological Museum 

 at Lisbon. He was especially known for his investigations in African 

 ornithology, to which he contributed a long series of papers. 



His ' Ornithologie d' Angola,' published in two parts (1877 and 1881) is 

 a work of about 600 pages, with 10 colored plates, and gives a very com- 

 plete resume of the avifauna of the Portuguese Possessions in Africa. He 

 .also wrote numerous papers on African mammals and reptiles. It is 



