PREFACE. 



Engagements no less pressing than numerous have for 

 some time past urged upon me the advisabihty of retiring 

 from the Editorship of ' The Ibis.' Still I was loth to 

 give up a duty, in the performance of which I was en- 

 couraged by an ever increasing confidence on the part 

 of my fellow ornithologists, until I had discharged it for 

 as long a period as my predecessor, and until I had found 

 a willing successor among the many able contributors to 

 this Journal. 



That period is at length arrived; and when I state 

 that Mr. Osbert Salvin is about to conduct a Third 

 Series of ' The Ibis,' I feel that I have no need of any 

 excuse for relinquishing the post I have filled for the 

 space of six years. During that time 1 have met with 

 kindness and forbearance which 1 shall never forget, 

 though I am unable duly to express in words my appre- 

 ciation of it. I can but assure all who have cooperated 

 with me that I am most heartily thankful to them, while 

 I do not doubt that they will continue their valuable 



support to my successor. 



A. N. 



Mag-dalene College, Cambridge. 

 October 1870. 



