^°^i9lf ^^] Notes and News. 573 



of the 'Hand-List' has been provided for use in the Museum in which is 

 noted the number of the cabinet and drawer in which each species is to be 

 found. When Dr. Sharpe took charge of the collection in 1872 it consisted 

 of about 30,000 specimens while at the time of his death it was supposed 

 to consist of about 500,000 skins and eggs. We find in the index two 

 genera, Sharpia and Bowdleria and forty-one species named in honor of Dr. 

 Sharpe, more namesakes apparently than have been bestowed upon any 

 other ornithologist. 



The Annual General Meeting of the British Ornithologists' Union 

 for 1912 was held in London on May 8th. The officers for the ensuing 

 year are President, Dr. F. DuCane Godman; Secretary, Mr. J. Lewis 

 Bonhote; while Mr. William Lutley Sclater was chosen editor of the tenth 

 series of 'The Ibis' covering the six years beginning with 1913. 



Medals were awarded to the following members of the British Orni- 

 thologists' Union Expedition to New Guinea: Mr. Walter Goodfellow, 

 Dr. A. F. R. Wollaston, Mr. G. C. Shortridge and Mr. Claude H. B. Grant. 

 It was announced that the new edition of the 'List of British Birds' pub- 

 lished in 1883 would be ready for the press during the coming winter. 



DouBLEDAY, Page & COMPANY, Garden City, New York, announce a 

 work on the Birds of Eastern North America by Chester A. Reed, with 408 

 illustrations in color and many in black and white. 



We are informed that Mrs. M. Blasius, Inselwall 13, Braunschweig, 

 Germany, sister-in-law of the late Prof. Wilhelm Blasius desires to dispose 

 of the specimen of the Great Auk which was contained in his collection. 

 Year by year the specimens of this interesting bird find their way into the 

 public museums where they are likely to remain permanently, so that this 

 is probably one of the last opportunities that will occur of obtaining a 

 specimen. 



Soon after the organization of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club 

 in 1890 the members began to form a collection of the nests and eggs of 

 the birds breeding in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and presented it to the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for exhibition in the museum. 

 Later the collection was extended to include specimens of the birds as well, 

 and additional nests were secured, until at the present time all the birds 

 of the two states are represented with the exception of a few accidental 

 stragglers, while out of about one hundred and fifty species known to nest 

 within the region, the nests of one hundred and thirty are represented, all 

 of them actually obtained in Pennsylvania or New Jersey. In many cases 

 accessories have been added and the nest and birds mounted in a natural 

 group. The collection has recently been entirely rearranged and displayed 



