110 Bulletin of the British 



stand, have mostly been already drawn and coloured under 

 Seebohm's superintendence, I fear that in this case, as 

 regards the letterpress, the Editor will have a long and by 

 no means easy task to perform. 



^'Passing on to other ornithological publications which have 

 been issued since the commencement of our last Session, I 

 may point out that three additional volumes of the British 

 Museum Catalogue of Birds, which, when I spoke to you last 

 year, I alluded to as being nearly ready, have all been 

 published, and that volume xxvi. (to contain the Herons, 

 Pelicans, Grebes, Divers, and Penguins) is now only required 

 to complete this most important work. Captain Shelley's 

 first volume of his work on African ornithology has also been 

 published. Other important ornithological works lately 

 brought out are the new edition of Mr. Ridgway^s ' Manual 

 of North- American Birds ' and Dr. Mivart's beautifully 

 illustrated ' Monograph of the Lories.' 



" As regards ornithological books in course of preparation 

 or in contemplation (besides the posthumous works of which 

 I have already spoken), I am pleased to say that the Index 

 to the 4th, 5th, and 6th series of 'The Ibis' (1877-94) is 

 making good progress, the first portion of it being already in 

 type. Mr. Beddard has been hard at work on his 'Anatomy 

 of Birds ' all the year, and hopes to have it ready for the 

 press in 1897. Mr. Joseph Whitaker is projecting a volume 

 on the Birds of Tunis, in which he will put together the 

 results recently achieved by himself and other collectors in 

 that interesting district of North Africa. 



" Perhaps the most remarkable event in ornithology that 

 has lately been divulged to us is the characterization of the 

 gigantic bird of the Diprotodon-heds of South Australia, 

 which, as announced in the last number of 'The Ibis,' 

 Dr. Stirling has named Genyornis newtoni. We are not yet 

 in possession of a full account of this extinct monster, but 

 have only been told that it is, in fact, a gigantic Emu, just 

 as the Diprotodon of the same epoch is an exaggerated 

 Kangaroo. As regards extinct birds, we may also rejoice that 

 (as already announced in 'The Ibis') the Trustees of the 



