266 Letters, Extracts, Notices, fyc. 



as an officer in the 95th Regiment, and served his country in 

 the Crimea and elsewhere. After retiring from the army, 

 lie became a director of the London, Chatham, and Dover 

 Railway, and of other commercial undertakings. 



Mr. Taylor was an ardent sportsman and an excellent 

 shot, and from early life was a collector of birds, more 

 especially those killed by his own gun, and a skilful preparer 

 of their skins. 



In 1857-58 he visited Honduras in connection with the 

 scheme then afloat for carrying an inter-oceanic railway 

 across that country. In company with the preliminary 

 surveying expedition for the proposed line, he crossed that 

 Republic from Fonseca Bay to Omoa, and made a consider- 

 able collection of birds, of which he subsequently published 

 an account in this Journal. 



In 1861 Mr. Taylor made an expedition to Florida, of 

 which also an account was given to the readers of ' The Ibis.' 

 One of the specialities of Mr. Taylor's private collection of 

 birds was a series of Ruffs (Machetes pugnax) , illustrative of 

 the highly variable plumage of the male of this bird. This 

 series, we are pleased to be able to announce, has been 

 secured by Prof. Flower for the National Collection. 



We subjoin a list of Mr. Taylor's ornithological publi- 

 cations. 



(1) "Account of a Visit to a Nesting-place of the Frigate- 

 bird (Fregata aquila, L.)," Ibis, 1859, p. 150. 



(2) " On Birds collected or observed in the Republic of 

 Honduras, with a short account of a Journey across 

 that country from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean/' 

 Ibis, 1860, pp. 10, 110, 222, 311. 



(3) "Five weeks in the Peninsula of Florida during the 



spring of 1861, with Notes on the Birds observed there," 

 Ibis, 1862, pp. 127, 197. 



(4) a Birds observed during two Voyages across the North 

 Atlantic," Ibis, 1869, p. 388. 



(5) "Ornithological Observations in the Crimea, Turkey, 

 Sea of Azov, and Crete, during the years 1854-55; 

 with Remarks on the Sivash, or Putrid Sea," Ibis, 

 1872, p. 224. 



